You may have heard about General Electric’s “Ecomagination” challenge contest, where General Electric Co. will invest $10 billion in environmentally friendly products by 2015. Or the X PRIZE, a $10 million+ award given to the first team to achieve a specific goal, set by the X PRIZE Foundation, which has the potential to benefit humanity.
Now there’s a new contest in the Energy Storage area. Energy Storage Challenge in 2011 will run over three years, in thee stages, with an ultimate prize of $5 million. “We have already had 160 organizations and individuals pre-apply to the 2011 Challenge,” notes London-based Jonathan Slater, Director of the Energy Storage Challenge effort.
The first round, called the “Fundamental Ideas Challenge” will focus on original ideas for the future of transportable energy storage. The prize fund for the best idea is US$250,000, granted for the individual or organization to take their idea and try to make it a reality. “Organizations involved with the challenge will benefit from invaluable exposure and will have access to review of all the ideas submitted,” Slater said.
This first chalelnge is looking for fresh ideas about systems that can provide transportable energy storage. Proposals must be notably different from existing systems and in this case, an idea is really all that's needed. Finalists will have the honor of presenting their ideas before sponsors, investors, peers and a panel of independent judges at the first ever Energy Storage Summit in September 2011 (details TBD). This Challenge will open for entrants on 1 January 2011 and will close 1 June 2011. The winner will receive a prize fund of $250,000, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Office of Naval Research - Global (ONR-G).
The Lab Demonstration Challenge is seeking systems that can plausibly be implemented within 2-5 years. Systems can still be bench based and may be not completely developed. However, their potential must be evident. As with the previous year, finalists will present their prototypes at the Energy Storage Summit in September 2012. This Challenge will open for entrants on 1 January 2012 and will close 1 June 2012. The winner will receive a prize fund of $1 million.
In the final year on "Transportable Energy Storage", entrants must submit a system that is ready for demonstration as systems will be put to the test in real world situations. Finalists will compete against each other at the Energy Storage Summit in September 2013. This Challenge will open for entrants on 1 January 2013 and will close 1 June 2013. The winner will receive a prize fund of $5 million. This Challenge is not yet open for entrants, but it will be soon, according to the website.
Slater said there are a number of different ways to be involved in the challenge, from sponsorship packages starting at $5,000, to being part of the judging and advisory panel. “There are limited sponsorship places and we limit the number of organizations in each sector who can sponsor the Challenge,” he said.
Current sponsors and partners are Electricity Storage Association, University of Maryland, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Thales, USIBC, ONR and ONRG .
I will be entering the energy storage challenge. Below I have copied some info about a related project.
ReplyDeleteVulvox's innovation will enable energy storage of intermittent photovoltaic and wind power. Highly efficient systems are desired by the renewable power industry and government smart grid programs. The patent pending Vulvox system is expected to cost 7.69% as much as pumped hydroelectric storage and it can store electric energy and regenerate it with up to 93% efficiency. If fully implemented by 2030 the Department Of Energy says it will save 4%-7% of all energy produced. This innovation will enable energy storage of intermittent photovoltaic and wind power. Highly efficient systems are desired by the renewable power industry and government smart grid programs. It will stabilize the electricity grid and help prevent blackouts and brownouts. It can store intermittent renewable energy including wind power, solar power and tidal energy, and later release the electrcity when it is desirable, such as at peak periods when air conditioner use rises on hot summer days. It can store electrcity for vehicle battery recharging stations. It can store electricity generated by Stirling dish solar energy collectors making that form of solar energy available around the clock instead of during daylight hours. Utility scale electrcity storage will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow or reverse damage to the environment that excess carbon dioxide is causing.
As already stated it will provide bulk energy storage for utilities – shifting large amounts of energy from excess production times to peak usage times and that will enable storage of cheap electrcity generated during off peak hours to be sold during peak demand periods. It will also enable lower usage of expensive auxiliary power generators used during peak demand periods and it will replace them with cheap regenerated energy generated and stored overnight.
According to a Lux research report released May 29, 2008-
"Bulk energy storage for utilities – shifting large amounts of energy from excess production times to peak usage times – presents the biggest potential opportunity of all markets studied: If even 10% of installed wind power plants adopted large-scale energy storage, the market would hit $50 billion."
Contact Neil Farbstein, President of Vulvox for further details.
vnbcinc@gmail.com
http://vulvox.tripod.com/id28.html
http://vulvox.tripod.com