The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has announced a conditional commitment to finance Project IceBrick, a virtual power plant (VPP) consisting of cold thermal energy storage systems in commercial buildings throughout California.

The project will deploy technology developed by IceBrick Energy Assets I, LLC, a subsidiary of Nostromo Energy, Inc., consisting of 12-foot by 20-inch rectangular energy storage blocks with a 132-gallon volume. A water-based solution will freeze during periods of abundant electricity supply, and the ice will be tapped to support cooling of each building during hours of peak demand.

A software platform has been tailored to enable these systems to serve as a VPP by directing multiple energy assets to function in concert with one other or individually. The IceBrick System is projected to help the state’s bulk power system avoid up to 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the project’s lifetime.

The project, consisting of up to 193 cold thermal energy storage units, is also expected to provide the equivalent of approximately 170 MW (450 MWh) of behind-the-meter storage capacity for commercial users.