Energy Storage- compressed air
Posted: Thu 20 Dec 2012, 08:04:36
Lightsail Energy
Energy Storage Startup LightSail Raises $37.3 Million From Thiel, Gates, Khosla
Not sure about this idea, but I think Danielle Fong has the balls for it!
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/a ... le/259632/
LightSail Energy, a California startup developing a compressed air renewable energy storage system, has raised a $37.3 million from a group of high-profile investors that include Peter Thiel, Bill Gates and Vinod Khosla, the company said Monday.
Co-founded in 2009 by Steve Crane and Danielle Fong, then 20, LightSail initially attracted $15 million from Khosla Ventures to create a highly efficient compressed air storage system. Like other compressed air systems, Lightsail’s technology uses motors to compress air in a tank to store energy generated by wind farms and other renewable source. When the air is heated it expands and drives pistons to generate electricity when, say, the wind isn’t blowing.
The company’s innovation is to capture the heat generated by the compression and store it in a spray of water for later use. LightSail claims that allows for a much more efficient storage system as energy does not have to be expended reheating the air.
Forbes Magazine earlier this year named Fong, 25, one of its 30 Under 30 energy innovators to watch.
Canada’s Innovacorp also participated in LightSail’s current round.
“The power grid needs cheap, reliable energy storage, but every single solution to date has been only incremental,” Khosla said in a statement. “They have the potential to totally disrupt the electricity industry’s assumptions with reliable grid-scale storage at a fraction of the cost of today’s battery technology. When deployed, LightSail’s technology would reduce the need for transmission line investment, peaker power plants, and make renewable energy practical and mainstream for the first time.”
Energy Storage Startup LightSail Raises $37.3 Million From Thiel, Gates, Khosla
Not sure about this idea, but I think Danielle Fong has the balls for it!
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/a ... le/259632/
LightSail Energy, a California startup developing a compressed air renewable energy storage system, has raised a $37.3 million from a group of high-profile investors that include Peter Thiel, Bill Gates and Vinod Khosla, the company said Monday.
Co-founded in 2009 by Steve Crane and Danielle Fong, then 20, LightSail initially attracted $15 million from Khosla Ventures to create a highly efficient compressed air storage system. Like other compressed air systems, Lightsail’s technology uses motors to compress air in a tank to store energy generated by wind farms and other renewable source. When the air is heated it expands and drives pistons to generate electricity when, say, the wind isn’t blowing.
The company’s innovation is to capture the heat generated by the compression and store it in a spray of water for later use. LightSail claims that allows for a much more efficient storage system as energy does not have to be expended reheating the air.
Forbes Magazine earlier this year named Fong, 25, one of its 30 Under 30 energy innovators to watch.
Canada’s Innovacorp also participated in LightSail’s current round.
“The power grid needs cheap, reliable energy storage, but every single solution to date has been only incremental,” Khosla said in a statement. “They have the potential to totally disrupt the electricity industry’s assumptions with reliable grid-scale storage at a fraction of the cost of today’s battery technology. When deployed, LightSail’s technology would reduce the need for transmission line investment, peaker power plants, and make renewable energy practical and mainstream for the first time.”