The nascent energy storage sector is often described in terms of how fast it’s currently expanding — and its potential for explosive growth in the near future.
But across San Diego County decades-old deployments such as ice storage are still in use just as cutting-edge technologies such as lithium-ion storage grab so many headlines.
At the sprawling Mission City office complex in Mission Valley not far from Qualcomm Stadium, 29 ice thermal storage tanks help slash the energy costs for the owners of three office towers who retro-fitted the facility in 1999.
“San Diego has had a long history with different types of ice storage technology,” said Brian Bloker, an account manager for commercial systems at Trane air conditioning. “Some people know there is ice storage technology that’s been in operation for the past 20 years and other people say, hey, I didn’t know this was here.”
It’s easy to miss the the Mission Valley facility. After all, it’s below ground, under a parking garage.
“It kind of operates quietly in the background,” Bloker said. “But the technology itself has not changed.”
The ice tanks are fed by two 320-ton chillers that send an antifreeze solution called glycol through tubing that freezes the water in the tanks, turning it into ice. The process typically runs at night when practically no employees are in the office.
During the day, the process is reversed, essentially providing cooling for the office building and acting in a sense as a battery for a building’s air conditioning system.
It’s an example of what is called “load-shifting,” in which large blocks of energy loads are moved until the power supply system can more easily handle them — something energy storage is especially well designed to tackle.
The payoff for the building owners comes from running the system at night when utility prices are significantly lower than they are during peak hours during the day.
Recent Comments