The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has invited cold-energy storage company Nostromo Energy to submit a Part II application for a $189 million loan guarantee under the Title XVII Innovative Clean Energy Loan Guarantee Program.
According to the company, the loan guarantee from the DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) would support its energy storage-as-a-service (ESaaS) offering for the deployment of its large-scale, behind-the-meter, modular and cold energy storage technology.
The invitation from the Loan Programs Office comes after it determined that Nostromo’s proposed project employs what could be innovative technology, expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions and meets the relevant Part I technical eligibility requirements.
If approved, the DOE loan would help Nostromo install its IceBrick energy storage systems in up to 120 commercial and industrial buildings in California and other U.S. states, with a total capacity of 100 MW/275 MWh.
Nostromo’s IceBrick systems will be managed by the company’s Cirrus cloud-based energy management system and operate as a virtual power plant to offer demand flexibility to the local power grid.
The loan guarantee is subject to the completion of an equity capital raise for an amount yet to be determined. Nostromo has hired investment bank Independence Point Securities to serve as an exclusive advisor for raising the equity capital for the project.
“If the application successfully proceeds to a loan guarantee, the DOE’s and LPO’s support will help us accelerate commercial deployment of our novel energy storage technology for behind-the-meter installation, which is critical for both balancing and decarbonizing the power grid,” said Yoram Ashery, CEO at Nostromo Energy. “We’re looking forward to working with Independence Point to quickly finalize the equity financing component of the project, so we can begin catalyzing the much needed decarbonization of the existing building stock.”
Nostromo Energy's Icebrick technology, often installed on roofs, is designed to replace chillers in C&I buildings. It would freeze water during off-peak times, such as night, and then circulate air from that ice during the day to cool buildings and replace high HVAC costs and emissions, according to the company.
Ice is lighter than the same volume of water because it has less density due to hydrogen bonding in the freeze, according to reports.
