Nostromo Energy Closer To US $189 Million DOE Loan Guarantee For Cold Storage ‘icebrick’ Rollout; Seeks Capital Raise

Nostromo Energy is seeking an equity capital raise as part of getting a US$189 million loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy to roll out its cold energy storage solution.

The US Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office (LPO) has invited Nostromo Energy to submit a Part II loan guarantee application for a US$189 million loan towards rolling outs its cold energy storage solution. The loan guarantee comes under the LPO's Title XVII Innovative Clean Energy Loan Guarantee Program.

If approved, the loan would help the company to install its IceBrick energy storage system in up to 120 commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings in California and elsewhere in the US, totalling 100MW/275MWh.

The loan guarantee is subject to completion of an equity capital raise by Nostromo, for which the Israel-headquartered company has appointed Independence Point Securities as exclusive advisor. The company has been listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchange since 2015.

The IceBrick is a modular ice cold behind-the-meter (BTM) energy storage system which cools water into stored ice during off-peak periods and uses it to cool commercial air conditioning systems' circulating water during peak hours.

In an interview with Energy-Storage.news last year shortly after a stock market listing. founder and CTO Yaron Ben Nun said it had a round-trip efficiency (RTE) higher than 85% and a 94% depth of discharge in every four-hour cycle, adding its cells do not degrade over time.

The deployed IceBrick systems will be managed centrally by the company's Cirrus cloud-based management system and aggregated into a virtual power plant providing demand side flexibility to local power grids.

Yoram Ashery, CEO at Nostromo Energy. "We're looking forward to working with Independence Point to quickly finalise the equity financing component of the project, so we can begin catalyzing the much needed decarbonisation of the existing building stock."

Nostromo said the invitation to submit a Part II application meant the LPO determined that its project 'employs innovative technology, is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meets the applicable Part I technical eligibility requirements.'

The company said that cooling accounts for approximately half of a building's energy use and more than a third of total potential for load shifting by behind-the-meter storage on the entire power grid.

Cooling accounts for substantial part of the 'Duck Curve' challenge to California's grid operator CAISO. During hot weather, the peak in electricity demand which starts at 5/6pm typically lasts until 9pm, well past peak solar PV generation hours.

In March last year, the company partnered with commercial cooling systems manufacturer Smardt Chiller Group to introduce an energy storage system with an RTE of 100%.