DANBURY, Conn., 7 Sept. 2005. Electro Energy Inc. today announced receipt of a $1.05 million contract with the U.S. Department of Energy for the further development of its bipolar nickel metal hydride energy storage battery.
The 12-month project is managed by Sandia National Laboratories for the Dept. of Energy's Program of Energy Storage Research in collaboration with First Energy (an Akron, Ohio based electric utility). Funding will be provided for continued development of batteries for utility energy storage applications, including power regulation, and bulk storage.
In the program, second-generation prototype test units, rated from 150 Volts, 20AHr to 500 Volts, 6AHr, will be constructed and tested at EEEI, and subsequently delivered to Sandia for further testing.
Units of this size have potential applications for utility, wind, solar and customer side load regulation and back up power. The application of energy storage distributed to the customer site is expected to improve energy costs through power quality improvement, demand smoothing and peak demand shifting.
"Availability of reliable, cost-effective energy storage is becoming a high priority for utilities, as well as commercial and industrial customers" said Dr. Imre Gyuk, program manager of DOE's Energy Storage program.
Michael Reed, President and COO of EEEI, stated, "Electro Energy Inc. is very pleased with the continued support from the Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories for the application of our battery Bipolar Nickel Metal Hydride technology. As energy costs escalate and reliable, high quality power becomes critical to more and more users, energy storage batteries have a significant role to play. The EEEI battery technology offers a unique mix of low cost and high performance that makes it a viable candidate for a number of these applications."
Electro Energy Inc., headquartered in Danbury, Conn., was founded in 1992 to develop, manufacture and commercialize high-powered, rechargeable bipolar nickel-metal hydride batteries for use in a wide range of applications. Its Colorado Springs operation supplies aerospace-grade high quality nickel cadmium batteries and components for satellites, aircraft and other specialty applications. Electro Energy Inc. is developing high power lithium rechargeable batteries utilizing the company's proprietary design. For more information, see www.electroenergyinc.com.
Sandia is a government-owned/contractor operated facility. Lockheed Martin manages Sandia for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. Since 1949, Sandia National Laboratories has developed science-based technologies that support our national security. Today, the nearly 300 million Americans depend on Sandia's technology solutions to solve national and global threats to peace and freedom. For more information, see www.sandia.gov/mission/energy/index.html.
