Axion Power International, Inc., the developer of advanced lead-carbon PbC batteries and energy storage systems, has received a purchase order, along with a substantial down payment, for a PowerCube to be commissioned into a solar project. The Cube will provide storage for energy created by the solar panel system and also service the frequency regulation market. The $320,000 purchase order includes batteries, racks, wiring, data communication system and electronics coordination (electronics and power system to be provided by Owner). The project has been in the works for some time and the Company expects to ship all equipment to the site in the current quarter of 2013, with installation to begin immediately.
Axion’s PowerCube has proven its effectiveness and reliability by providing daily frequency regulation and demand response services in the PJM grid utility network for the last two years. PJM is the nation’s largest power transmission organization serving more than 58 million people in all or parts of 13 states. The solar storage adaptation of the PowerCube was developed with data extracted from the PJM network model, including the important “frequency regulation market” component.
Axion Power Chairman and CEO Tom Granville noted that inquiries on PbC-enabled energy power systems and the PowerCube have increased substantially in the last several months from potential customers throughout the US and from island nations in the Caribbean. In the islands, and in other offshore territories, renewable energy has become increasingly important because the grid, where it is available, is not always reliable, and fossil-fuel generated energy has continued to rise in expense, and has continued to pollute the environment.
Granville added, “This solar initiative is exactly the kind of application we have been targeting since we first introduced the PowerCube. We have also been working toward an ongoing strategic relationship with both the developer and the end user of this initial solar system. The integration of our PbC batteries, with their unique proprietary properties, has enabled us to offer an energy storage system that, when combined with solar, exhibits a very attractive R.O.I. We have been working with several other renewable energy developers, and that work runs the gamut from ‘early stage’ to ‘near shovel in the ground’. We look forward to announcing some of these additional initiatives in the near future.”
