MENLO PARK, Calif.,
March 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --
– NEWS SUMMARY –
- Mainspring Energy, Inc. launches the Mainspring Linear
Generator, a new low-cost, fully dispatchable, and fuel-flexible
power generation technology for commercial and industrial
buildings, utilities, and microgrids.
- Mainspring enters into a $150
million unit purchase and project finance agreement with
NextEra Energy Resources to promote deployment of Mainspring's
product and advance the adoption of renewable fuels such as biogas
and hydrogen.
- A major national supermarket chain, one of the Fortune 500
customers in Mainspring's pilot program, has signed an agreement to
expand deployment of Mainspring Linear Generators to power up to 30
grocery stores. Mainspring began shipping pilot units to multiple
Fortune 500 customers in June 2020
and expects to begin commercial product shipments in mid-2021.
Mainspring Energy, Inc. today launched the Mainspring Linear
Generator, the first product in a new category of power generation
technology for commercial and industrial buildings, utilities, and
microgrids.
Mainspring's Linear Generator has the capability to dynamically
switch between fuels, including biogas and hydrogen.
The growing mandate for a reliable, affordable, and low-carbon
electric grid is driving demand for new power generation
technologies that can enable greatly increased use of renewable
energy while providing improved resilience against natural
disasters, increased flexibility, and lower cost than the electric
grid. Mainspring's breakthrough technology, based on research
originally conducted by the company's co-founders in a
thermodynamics laboratory at Stanford
University, is designed to meet these demands by delivering
dispatchable, fuel-flexible power that substantially reduces cost
and carbon today, while accelerating the transition to the net-zero
carbon grid.
The company also announced it has entered a $150 million agreement with NextEra Energy
Resources to purchase Mainspring units and finance customer
projects starting in the first half of 2021.
A major national supermarket chain, one of the Fortune 500
customers in Mainspring's pilot program, has signed an agreement to
expand deployment of Mainspring Linear Generators to power up to 30
grocery stores. Mainspring began shipping pilot units to multiple
Fortune 500 customers in June 2020
and expects to begin commercial product shipments in mid-2021.
Mainspring has shipped products to big-box retail, grocery, and
utility customers and is in talks with other Fortune 500 companies
in shipping, logistics, telecommunications, and 100% biogas
wastewater treatment facilities.
"Mainspring is excited to bring our new solution to market with
world-class partners like NextEra Energy Resources and our initial
Fortune 500 customers," said Shannon
Miller, founder and CEO of Mainspring. "Their industry
expertise, insights, and validation are valuable assets in meeting
our goals: to help our customers reduce electricity costs and
carbon output, improve resilience against natural disasters, and
accelerate the transition to the net-zero carbon grid of the
future."
"Many commercial and industrial customers as well as utilities
want clean, reliable power generation, with the capability to
switch to 100% renewable fuels like biogas and hydrogen as they
become available," said NextEra Energy Resources President and CEO
John Ketchum. "Mainspring is able to
integrate clean onsite generation with both renewables and the grid
and we're pleased to support bringing this innovative product to
market."
Onsite power generation provides power where it's needed without
the use of the electric grid transmission and distribution
infrastructure. Mainspring's generators are designed to produce
electricity with utility-scale performance in the size of a parking
space, while meeting the strictest emissions standards in the
world.
About The Mainspring Linear Generator
A linear
generator —distinct from an engine, microturbine, or fuel cell — is
a device that directly converts motion along a straight line into
electricity using chemical or thermal energy. The design of
Mainspring's Linear Generator uses a low-temperature reaction of
air and fuel to drive magnets through copper coils to efficiently
produce electricity. This innovcative design, combined with the
company's proprietary adaptive control software, enables high
efficiency, near-zero NOx emissions, full dispatchability, and
seamless switching between fuels.
Fuel-flexibility, dispatchability and low cost are three of the
Mainspring Linear Generator's primary differentiators from other
distributed energy solutions. The capability of this technology to
dynamically switch between natural gas and renewable fuels like
biogas and hydrogen, results in both high efficiency and low
emissions. Full dispatchability, or ability to ramp generation up
and down, allows the Mainspring product to serve fluctuating energy
demand and provide backup power if the grid goes down. This
load-following capability also means it pairs well with onsite
solar panels or battery storage, dispatching power when needed, and
enabling rapid growth in renewable energy.
The product achieves low capital and maintenance costs through
use of standard materials, only two moving parts, and an innovative
air bearing system that eliminates the need for oil. It operates
without the use of complex mechanical systems or expensive
catalysts.
"One of our customers' key drivers, in addition to carbon
savings, is to save cost from their current grid prices," added
Miller. "Our products can provide substantial savings to commercial
customers on their electricity costs with a typical Energy Services
Agreement. In this energy-as-a-service scenario, customers pay
nothing up front and realize annual savings starting in the first
year."
Because of its use of a low-temperature reaction without burning
or a flame, the Mainspring Linear Generator meets the strictest
emissions standards in the U.S. This also allows for fast,
streamlined permitting.
Mainspring's first commercial product is designed for a rated
output of 250 kW and packaged in a standard 8' x 20' container.
Each package integrates two of the company's breakthrough 125 kW
linear generator cores, working in tandem, and combines UL-listed
grid-tie inverters and auxiliaries into a turn-key package for fast
and simple installation and quiet operation. Future configurations
will provide higher power output to serve industrial businesses,
data centers, hospitals, smart cities, and utility grid-level
applications.
About Mainspring Energy
Driven by its vision of the
affordable, reliable, net-zero carbon grid of the future,
Mainspring has developed a new category of power generation — the
linear generator — that delivers onsite, dispatchable,
fuel-flexible power to accelerate the transition to the future
grid. Based in Menlo Park, Calif.,
Mainspring is backed by top-tier venture and strategic investors
such as American Electric Power, Bill
Gates, Equinor, KCK, and Khosla Ventures.
www.mainspringenergy.com.
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SOURCE Mainspring Energy, Inc.