Axion Power International Inc. announced today an exciting opportunity to further capitalize on its proprietary lead-carbon PbC® battery technology by developing the Axion PowerCube™ under a $248,650 grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority.
The PowerCube system is part of a 500-kilowatt installation to be deployed at Axion’s New Castle manufacturing plant. Chief in its design is abundant use of AXPM’s PbC technology featuring tight integration with a Smart Grid electrical system, as well as a solar-powered or wind-powered electrical vehicle charging station.
Governor Edward G. Rendell declared that the PowerCube represented exactly the kind of “innovative green energy project” that would put us on “the road to energy independence”, awarding one-sixth of Pennsylvania’s state grant budget to the project.
CEO of AXPM Thomas Granville offered this grant as proof of the viability of the company’s proprietary PbC technology for meeting the demands of both high energy storage and environmental performance.
Granville pointed out the capacity of AXPM’s PbC technology to enhance “Smart Grid electrical distribution systems”, by offering greater storage potential and more readily available deployment potential for Smart Grid systems in general.
Granville went on to say that he relished the opportunity to “demonstrate the effectiveness” of the PbC battery, which has the ability to provide “power quality, peak demand reduction”, and is also easily incorporated into designs such as the vehicle charging station.
Funds from the grant will be used to procure power conditioning systems from Eaton Corp. for the PowerCube, as well as associated design and installation costs.
The PowerCube is designed to be easily and tightly integrated with an Envision Solar CleanCharge™ electric vehicle charging station or a wind turbine system. This design feature emphasizes a long-standing relationship with Envision Solar, known for its successes in deploying systems for UC San Diego, McDonald’s franchises, and other high-profile clients throughout the United States.
Granville added that a key to the marketability and potential of the PowerCube system was its forward-looking design, with the capacity to easily “couple energy storage with solar and wind systems as an integral component of a Smart Grid”.
Granville said that the PowerCube is the kind of product which will help grow the market for renewable energy via the increasing “reach and market penetration” its innovative design will afford.
“The PowerCube has been designed to capture the intermittent power generated by renewable energy producers like solar and wind, and to recover rapidly after an outage event,” said Granville.
Granville wrapped up his comments by pointing to the completion last week of a “$26M financing round” allowing the Company substantial capacity to create “additional carbon electrode production capacity to better serve, and more competitively serve, these emerging energy storage markets”.
Let us hear your thoughts below:
