NY-BEST Newsletter 5-25-2011

As the Executive Director of NY-BEST, it is my duty and privilege to expose the potential and strength of the energy storage industry. Yesterday, I was able to represent our organization with a presentation to the New York State Senate Committee on Energy and Telecommunications. The presentation radiated excitement and interest in our mission. This was confirmed with Senator Maziarz’ closing announcement of his intent to support our organization and schedule tours with some member companies in the summer of 2011. I also had the opportunity to further convey our message during a live interview with capitol correspondent, Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom and with a talk and discussion with the New York Independent Systems Operator (NYISO).

To watch the video stream of the presentation to the Senate Committee on Energy and Telecommunications, simply click here. Also, if you would like to listen to the podcast of the interview hosted by The Capitol Pressroom please click here. For your convenience, you can find my interview session starting at 23:35.

In addition, I would like to welcome our newest members to the organization, Saft Amercia, Inc. and Schenectady County Community College.

As always, if you have any questions please contact the NY-BEST Office at (518) 694-8474 or info@ny-best.org.

Best regards,

William Acker
Executive Director

NY-BEST members received information in this newsletter about 16 different funding opportunities. Becoming a member is easy and economical. Visit http://www.ny-best.org/MembershipForm for more information.

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Clean tech patents surge to record high in 2010 according to Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti
An upstate New York intellectual property law firm that produces a growth index for clean tech patents has found that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) granted nearly twice as many patents in 2010 over nearly every given year since the index was first tracked.

Global Fuel Cell Shipments Doubled Between 2008 and 2010, According to Pike Research
Adoption of fuel cell powered products is gathering increasing momentum in a wide variety of application areas. The shift from an R&D based industry to a fully commercial one is well underway, though it has not been without its setbacks. Fuel cells are now being deployed for applications as diverse as residential power, off-grid mobile communications sites in Africa, low-carbon transportation, and electrical grid reliability

Congress Considers $4 Billion for Electric Cars
A bipartisan bill that would award $4 billion for manufacturing and deployment of electric vehicles in 10 U.S. communities has been introduced in Congress.

Binghamton University professor hopes to improve efficiency of software
Liu, a computer scientist, is working toward improving the efficiency of software used in computers, video games, cell phones and other devices. He recently received a five-year, $448,641 grant from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program, as well as a $50,000 grant from Google for research into efficient programming languages.

Naza and GE sign MOU for strategic collaboration
Naza and General Electric have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore potential collaboration in Malaysia in three areas - opportunities in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, the implementation of sustainable property development and opportunities in the healthcare services field.

Building GE's Ecomagination 'ecosystem' (Q & A)
Launched six years ago, the Ecomagination initiative is essentially a business proposition stating that there will be greater and greater competition for natural resources, which will drive demand for renewable energy and goods that improve energy and water efficiency. In five full years, GE has made $70 billion from Ecomagination-tagged products, which can be everything from wind turbines to hybrid locomotives to electric car charging ports.

Hydrogenics Awarded Contracts to Deliver Seven Electrolyzers
Hydrogenics Corporation (Nasdaq: HYGS) (TSX:HYG), a leading developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products, today announced that the Company has received contracts for the delivery of seven electrolyzers to customers in Asia, Europe and South America. The electrolyzers will be utilized by food processing, metallurgy, and thermal power plants, with delivery expected over the next six to nine months.

AES Building World’s Largest Lithium-Ion Battery Grid Projects
Power company AES has been experimenting with using lithium-ion batteries (large forms of those found in your laptop and mobile phone) as energy storage for the power grid, and currently has several pilot projects underway. But now AES tells me it’s in the process of scaling up its lithium-ion grid battery projects to a commercial size, and by the third quarter of this year, plans to start operating a 32 MW lithium-ion battery project in conjunction with grid operator PJM in West Virginia.

Intel, Ford to Test DC Microgrids
Intel and Ford Motor Company plan to retrofit select facilities to see if DC power can really curb their electricity consumption.

WindTamer Selected to Participate in NYSERDA-Funded Large-Scale Renewable Energy Storage System Prototype
A New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) award will help support the design, development, prototyping, scale-up and installation of the large scale lithium ion energy storage system. The system will integrate lithium ion batteries, ultracapacitors and renewable-energy generation sources, including wind and solar, and will allow utility companies and renewable energy generators to intelligently manage energy for consumption or storage.

DOE: Electric-Vehicle Infrastructure Catching On Across The U.S.
As a result of the Obama administration's efforts to encourage electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturing and infrastructure, more than 1,800 EV chargers have been installed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and that number is set to skyrocket over the next two years, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu has announced.

Daimler, Renault in talks on EV batteries: source
Daimler and Renault are currently in talks over a battery tie-up, which would see the French company enter into Daimler's Li-Tec battery joint venture with Evonik, the person told Reuters on Thursday.

GM raises Volt output target
GM plans this year to build 16,000 of the Volt and its European version, the Opel Ampera. That includes about 3,500 for overseas delivery and 2,500 as demos at dealerships, spokesman Rob Peterson said. Next year, GM plans to build 60,000 Volts at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, with 45,000 designated for the U.S.

Can Batteries Replace Power Generators?
When the Long Island Power Authority said last summer that it was going to need new power capacity in the next few years, most people assumed that meant new generating stations or new transmission cables. But of the 16 companies that submitted proposals, one, AES Energy Storage, took an entirely different tack: it proposed batteries.

1 MWh Energy-Storage System To Include WindTamer Turbine
Ultralife Corp. has selected turbine technology from WindTamer Corp. as the wind power component for a 1 MWh energy-storage system to be installed at Ultralife's Newark, N.Y., corporate campus.

RPI Pres heads to Washington for summit on Clean Energy Technologies
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson will be participating in a National Summit on Advancing Clean Energy Technologies in Washington, D.C. next week.

BAE Pays $79 Million To Settle Case With State Department
Under the terms of the settlement, it would pay a $79 million penalty over three years. That amount could be reduced by $10 million due to extra export compliance measures already implemented and those planned to be implemented over a four-year period

For more news about NY-BEST and NY-BEST members click here.

Advanced Battery Technologies Announces First Quarter 2011 Financial Results
Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ABAT), a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of rechargeable Polymer Lithium-Ion (PLI) batteries as well as a manufacturer of electric vehicles, today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

Connect by Hertz Car Sharing Electrifies Manhattan's Seward Park Co-Op Bringing Electric Vehicles and Networked ChargePoint Stations to Consumers
As part of its Global Electric Vehicle (EV) expansion throughout New York City, Connect by Hertz, Hertz's (NYSE: HTZ) global car sharing club, the first car sharing club to introduce the 100% electric Nissan LEAF™ in Manhattan, is bringing the LEAF to Manhattan's Seward Park Co-op. To celebrate the introduction of the Nissan LEAF, a formal unveiling, attended by Speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, will be held at Seward Park (413 Grand St in Manhattan) on Friday, May 6 at 12 noon.

Nissan LEAF Taxis: Ready for the Mean Streets of New York?
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been dealt a number of setbacks in his quest to hybridize the taxi fleet, most recently with the Supreme Court refusing to hear an appeal of lower court rulings that said, in effect, that the city was trying to create its own emission standards.

For more news about New York's Battery & Energy Storage Community click here.

Viewpoint: Military Vehicles Should Make Leap to Hybrid Technology
The U.S. military can be credited as the bellwether for technological trends and breakthroughs that have positively reshaped society. This is especially true when new technologies first built for the military are later introduced to the public and business through commercial applications.

Toyota: Bigger Prius on track for U.S. despite delays in Japan
The new, larger Prius, called Prius V in the U.S., launched in Japan last week, even as Toyota said a battery shortage might cause some buyers to wait a year for their cars.

Luxury hybrid-electric car maker Fisker Automotive raises an extra $100M
Fisker Automotive, which manufactures luxury plug-in electric hybrid cars, has raised an extra $100 million in its third round of funding to help fund production of its luxury sedan and a second, cheaper electric car that is geared toward more mainstream hybrid electric car buyers.

Is Energy Storage Ready for Prime Time?
Is energy storage too nascent and too expensive for wide scale deployment? Some power suppliers don’t think so but add that if the technology can be included in state and federal incentives, developers could more rapidly ramp up.

Electrovaya Announces Q2 Results
Electrovaya Inc. (TSX: EFL) today announced financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2011 ended March 31, 2011.

Portable Fuel Cell Unit Shipments to Top 7 Million Annually by 2017, According to Pike Research
Fuel cells are gaining momentum as a source of clean and reliable power for a host of portable device applications including electronics, battery chargers, remote monitoring, and military applications.

Volkswagen announces plug-in hybrid production
German carmaker Volkswagen is ready to revolutionise its vehicles by putting a range of plug-in hybrid models into production in 2013/14

Chasing batteries for energy storage
Battery applications such as power reliability, frequency regulation, renewable energy integration and energy management must be honed via further basic and applied research, particularly in utility demonstration projects, researchers said in a recent paper.

Sound-powered cellphones in development
A report from the British paper the Telegraph profiles a new technology under development in Seoul that harnesses the power of sound to charge mobile phones, using background noise, music and the human voice to juice up the battery.

Lithium Battery Industry Keeps Going, And Going ...
Lithium could, in the future, replace a lot of the oil we now use for energy — which raises questions about how much we can realistically rely on the metal. Seth Fletcher, senior editor at Popular Science, explores this in a new book, called Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars and the New Lithium Economy.

Exotic Automation & Supply Expands into Lithium Ion Battery Industry
Manufacturing lithium ion batteries is a very complex process. A key component of these products are fragile, copper-based anode and cathode materials. These materials are scrapped if they become contaminated or damaged in any way.

Toyota to power, heat Torrance, CA facility with 1MW Ballard fuel cell generator
Ballard Power Systems will deploy one of its one-megawatt CLEARgen fuel cell generators at Toyota's U.S. sales and marketing headquarters in Torrance, CA. The CLEARgen fuel cell system will utilize hydrogen produced by steam-reformation of renewable biogas generated at a nearby landfill. Deployment of the CLEARgen system will enable Toyota to satisfy its peak and mid-peak power needs by utilizing electricity from either the fuel cell system or from the electrical grid.

MarketsandMarkets Reveals Global Fuel Cell Market to Reach $1.6 Billion by 2016
A new market research report, "Global Fuel Cell Market by Technology, Application, Component, Installation, Cost, Geography, Trends and Forecasts (2011 - 2016)," published by MarketsandMarkets, revealed the global fuel cell market will reach $1.6 billion from an estimated $240 million in 2010 with CAGR of 17.6 percent during 2011 - 2016.

Why You'll Care About Intel's 3-D Chip Invention: Mobile Battery Life
Intel has revealed a radical transistor design called 3-D Tri-Gate that it will use in its upcoming Ivy Bridge CPUs. Great news for tech geeks, but what does that string of code words mean for your gadgets?

Electric Vehicle Range Extension Using a High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell
Vehicle electrification is all the rage. In March 2009, President Obama pledged to have 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on US roads by 2015. Through the Recovery Act and other grants, billions of dollars are being spent to support the introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) into mainstream markets. The goals are to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, reduce pollution, and reduce the US carbon footprint.

Tesla Posts Smaller Loss Than Estimated on Development Work
Tesla, the maker of $109,000 rechargeable Roadster sports cars, aims to become a global leader in battery-powered vehicles, aided by the supply agreements with Toyota and Daimler. The company, led by Elon Musk, its biggest investor, is readying a former Toyota joint-venture factory in California for production of $57,400 Model S electric sedans in mid-2012.

MIT finds another reason to charge your car at night: reduced pollution
The results in general show positive air quality results due to the use of PHEVs regardless of charging scenario with the nighttime charging scenario showing the best results on average by a small margin. This further supports efforts to develop regulation to encourage nighttime charging; an example would be variable electricity pricing.

Charging cell phones with dirt power
Harvard University researchers are testing a microbial fuel cell (MFC) that harnesses free electrons produced by the metabolic processes of bacteria. The MFC’s conductive surface sends the electrons through a anode-cathode-resistor circuit to generate electricity and just maybe, charge a phone

Pike Research Adds New Report on Fuel Cells
The report titled, “Fuel Cells Annual Report” studies the conditions of the worldwide fuel cell industry, drivers for its growth and roadblocks it faces where it will be placed in 2017 and why the year 2015 is considered as important for the industry. The report is a result of the Pikes extensive industry research, interviews with the top echelon and the use of its research model.

US targets clean energy leadership, says report
The US has laid out its plans to catalyze the efficient transformation of its energy system and secure leadership in clean energy technologies in the Department of Energy’s 2011 Strategic Plan.

Electric BMW i3 to Start at $35K, Have 150 HP and 160-Mile Range
You’ve no doubt by now heard about BMW’s i3 electric city car. The tiny runabout, which will have a rear-mounted electric motor and batteries located under the floor, has been somewhat of a hot topic among both greenies and fans of the roundel. To the conversation we now add pricing and power information, thanks to a deep inside source in München. The base sticker will be around $35,000 and the car will boast 150 fully electric hp.

Recognizing the Energy Security Value of Storage on the Grid
Last week, EPRI released a white paper on energy storage, which generated a lot of excitement. Many read the white paper as concluding that the market for grid-connected storage was 14 gigawatts and that the market would open once the price of electricity storage falls to $700-750 per kilowatt hour.

Best for batteries: Not too hot, not too cold
The Large-Volume Battery Calorimeter (LVBC) a crucial tool to help put these new automobiles on the road. Unveiled last year by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the LVBC is designed to precisely measure the heat generated by batteries for electric-drive vehicles, analyze temperature's effects on systems, and help pinpoint the ways to manage battery temperatures for the best performance and maximum life.

Government funding spurs a new green rush
In Colorado, a new two-year college called the EcoTech Institute trains 250 students for solar and wind jobs and soon, for sustainable interior design and environmental paralegal jobs

With 700 E.V.’s to Lease, BMW Announces Charging Partner for U.S. Market
BMW will lease 700 ActiveE electric cars, which are based on the 1 Series coupe, in the United States beginning this year. On Wednesday, the automaker announced a partnership to ensure that customers have a place to plug in.

1,800 EV Charging Stations Spring Up Across the USA
More than 1,800 electric vehicle chargers have been installed across the country to date under the Obama administration's economic stimulus law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced on Friday.

A123's loss widens as costs surge
The developer of lithium-ion battery technology, tied heavily to the electric car industry, has seen results weaken in recent periods as costs have increased. Concerns about how much of the market A123 can capture amid competition from rivals with more experience making batteries have weighed on the stock in the past year.

Alan J. Walker Appointed to Thunderbird Energy Board of Directors
Thunderbird Energy Corp. (TSX VENTURE:TBD) (FRANKFURT:M2Y) (the "Company" or "Thunderbird") ) today announced the appointment of Alan J. Walker to the Company's Board of Directors. Alan Walker holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the US Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in production management. After ten years of military service (US Army) based in both Turkey and Italy, Mr. Walker worked for General Electric, Amoco Production, and Questar.

America’s First Pipeline-Fed, Hydrogen Fueling Station Now Open In Los Angeles
America’s first pipeline-fed, retail hydrogen fueling station opened in Torrance, California, within Los Angeles county on Tuesday. The station will provide hydrogen for fuel cell and hybrid vehicles in the area.

Analysis on Global Fuel Cell Industry
Pike Research has published a new report on global fuel cell industry, titled ’Fuel Cells Annual Report’. According to the report, the worldwide shipment of fuel cells has doubled between the years 2008 and 2010. The shipment has increased from 7,500 units to over 15,000 units per year.

Charging Ahead
Batteries are now "part of the clean-tech boom, with all the dewy and righteous credibility of thin-film solar and offshore windmills," Seth Fletcher asserts in "Bottled Lightning." Righteous? Surely. Credible? Maybe.

China Lithium Technologies Reports 27.8% Increase in Revenue and 30.4% Increase in Gross Profit for the Third Quarter of Fiscal 2011
China Lithium Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: CLTT),a leading lithium-ion battery module, lithium-ion battery charger and lithium-ion battery management system manufacturer and distributor, today announced financial results for the third quarter ended March 31, 2011.

Discount battery seller finds numerous ways to cut costs
Hall is trying to pass on that same mindframe to his customers with his new family-owned store, Discount Battery Supply. By keeping his overhead as low as possible, Hall aims to provide customers with the lowest-cost means to power up things like laptop and desktop computers, cordless and cell phones, cordless tools and watches.

Eden Energy secures second order for carbon nanomaterials technology
Eden Energy (ASX: EDE) has secured an order for its carbon nanomaterials for electronic paper, adding a second electrical application for the technology, and potentially opening another electrically focused market opportunity.

Tropical Introduces New Portable Fuel Cell Power Generators
Tropical, an enterprise manufacturing fuel cell systems or power generators, announced the TB-1000 and TB-5000, two portable fuel cell power generators, providing 1000W and 5000W electric power respectively at 12/24/48V DC and at 110/230V AC.

Researchers: New 'supercapacitor' acts like energy sponge
Chalk one up for the supercapacitor side in the ongoing debate about the role of batteries versus supercapacitors for serious energy storage applications. Energy storage is seen as not only critical for the adoption of electrical vehicles but also for helping with people get past the intermittent nature of alternative energy technologies such as wind or solar.

For more news articles from beyond New York State click here.

This news update is provided as a service to members and interested parties of the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium. NY-BEST is an industry-led coalition working to build a vibrant, world-class, advanced battery and energy storage sector in New York State.

Your suggestions and comments for future topics are welcome.

Please email suggestions to: info@ny-best.org