Nostromo Energy's IceBrick® Energy Storage Systems Awarded First Resource Adequacy Credits by the California Public Utilities Commission

The IceBrick system is the first, distributed, large-scale dispatchable supply-side thermal-energy storage technology to obtain qualified capacity, not subject to interconnection

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nostromo Energy, Inc. (TASE: NOST), provider of the IceBrick^® system, a virtual power plant (VPP)-enabled distributed thermal energy storage solution for commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings, announced today that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) awarded Nostromo's IceBrick energy storage systems Resource Adequacy (RA) eligible Qualified Capacity for 2024 as Demand Response (DR) resources.

Utilities and community choice aggregators (CCAs) in California must procure qualified capacity to meet their resources adequacy obligations, set by the CPUC, but resources are slow to come online due to long interconnection queues, which average above 4 years in California. The IceBrick systems, as dispatchable, supply-side, behind-the-meter thermal energy storage technology, are not subject to these queues and can be online within 6-9 months from contracting with the site owner.

"The Resource Adequacy award for the IceBrick systems presents a unique opportunity to quickly scale-up large qualified capacity inside the built environment, without interconnection queues, which is the main challenge for utilities and CCAs to meet the increasing CPUC RA procurement targets" said Yoram Ashery, CEO of Nostromo Energy. "We look forward to partnering with utilities and CCAs on deploying IceBrick systems in their service area to provide local RA while helping their customers reduce their energy costs and carbon emissions."

Nostromo is in the process of initiating the deployment of 120 IceBrick systems with an aggregate capacity of 100/275 MW/MWh-equivalent over the next 3 years, with potential $176M loan from the US Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office. This initial award for 2024 is for 1.4 MW, as requested by Nostromo. The systems will operate as an automated VPP via remote management and are capable of dispatching energy to lower demands according to grid signals.

The IceBrick Innovation Center and visitors center is located inside the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, which also hosts a 1.4 MWh-equivalent IceBrick system serving both the Beverly Hilton and the adjacent Waldorf Astoria hotel.

About Nostromo

Nostromo Energy's ice-based energy storage solution is redefining energy storage for commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings. The Nostromo IceBrick^® system uses ice to store energy when electricity prices are low, renewable energy is abundant and the grid has excess capacity, and discharges the stored energy to avoid peak prices, emissions from gas-peaker plants and grid congestion during peak time. In this way, Nostromo provides demand flexibility to pave the way for a carbon-free, resilient power grid, using a safe, clean and financially beneficial system to building owners, that can be easily retrofitted to any existing C&I facility with chilled water cooling systems. To learn more about Nostromo, visit www.nostromo.energy.

Media Contacts:
GKPR for Nostromo Energy
Ariel Shapiro
ariel@gkpr.com 

SOURCE Nostromo