![\"ice\"\/](\"http:\/\/www.instablogsimages.com\/images\/2010\/05\/24\/ice_5QaG6_69.jpg\")
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Eco Factor:<\/strong> System to store surplus wind generated electricity as ice to cater peak energy demands. <\/p>\n In an effort to reduce peak need for air conditioning on hot California afternoons, a consortium of municipal utilities in California will being retrofitting government offices and commercial properties with systems that use ice made at night using surplus wind power to replace air-conditioning during the afternoon.<\/p>\n The system will reduce fuel consumption by the state utilities by 30 percent and by individual building owners by up to 90 percent. Developed by Ice Energy<\/a>, the system makes cheap ice overnight when electricity demand is low, using a high-efficiency compressor that freezes 450 gallons of water. In the middle of the day the device shuts down the air conditioner and instead pipes a stream of coolant from the melting block of ice to an evaporator coil installed within the building\u2019s HVAC blower system. <\/p>\n The block of ice will take about six hours to melt completely, which covers the peak afternoon load on the grid. A total of 6000 devices will be installed by 11 small participating utilities at 1500 locations to provide 53MW of energy storage to reduce load on the grid. <\/p>\n