Company banking on power play
Hamilton’s ECO-H Technologies launches energy storage system for electricity-hungry users
A local company has built a system designed to help high energy users save money on their hydro bills and provide those commercial customers with a stable source of power.
The energy management unit — designed by ECO-H Technologies Inc. — is built inside a former shipping container and includes several thousand lithium ion batteries used to store energy.
The stored energy can be used during peak hours, when rates are highest, to reduce costs or during power outages to keep high energy consumers, such as large factories, hospitals and data centres, running.
On average, the system can generate between two and four megawatts. It can deliver instant power when necessary and absorb excess power during off-peak hours, for later use.
The company will launch the product to about 75 potential customers at its Queen Street North plant Wednesday.
What makes this unit unique is the control system, says ECO-H president Darko Ulakovic. It is pre-programmable — a person is not required to run it — and uses algorithms to monitor power discharge.
“We’re not selling batteries, we’re selling a power management solution,” said company CEO Vince DiCristofaro.
The system can plug into the power grid or operate independently. It is always on, so there is no interruption if a power outage occurs, he added.
If a company that relies on a heavily computerized system loses power, it could take a whole day for it to reset, explained Ulakovic, resulting in lost productivity.
“(Companies) would normally go out and buy a generator to do this offsetting,” added DiCristofaro. “Ours is no moving parts … It’s a greener way of thinking.”
The company started working on a similar project in 2012 with plans to sell it to players in the oil and gas industries, DiCristofaro said.
But those industries faced a downturn, so the company took the technology and shifted its focus. It’s now geared to high energy consumers such as automated manufacturing facilities, schools and airports, said Ulakovic.
If these users have a way to offset power during the five highest peaks of the year, they can save on their global adjustment costs, said DiCristofaro.
“The companies are paying humongous amounts of money — millions of dollars,” said Ulakovic.
At the same time, the price of batteries has decreased, he added. “The payback for a system like this is in two or three years … It is the right product at the right time.”
Nicole Risse, executive director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, said such technologies are beneficial not only for cost reduction but also for environmental impact by shifting consumption away from peak times.
“That’s when our electricity system has a high greenhouse gas emissions footprint. That power is supplied predominantly, still, from natural gas.”
The system will be delivered to a customer in New York City in the new year, said DiCristofaro. Wajax is the Canadian distributor, he added.