Montreal, QC — Mitacs partner Sigma Energy Storage was honoured last week at a ceremony in Montreal as the Canadian winner of the 2016 National Energy Globe Award. More than 170 countries participate in the National Energy Globe Awards, making it one of the world’s largest environmental prizes. The awards recognize projects that conserve resources or utilize renewable or emission-free sources. Sigma Energy Storage was recognized as best Canadian project for their innovative hybrid thermal-compressed air energy storage (HT-CAES) technology.
The company’s HT-CAES technology is an environmentally friendly air energy storage system that integrates a thermal recovery system with high-pressure air compression to store energy and distribute it easily and efficiently. Energy storage, especially in combination with renewable power, has the potential to reduce the use of diesel, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Each 500 kW/ 2 MWh HT-CAES system will save over 1000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
Renewables can be unpredictable or intermittent, as energy is generated in fits and bursts depending on wind, tide, water flow, or sunlight. Energy storage technologies — such as Sigma Energy Storage’s — enable this intermittent power to be stored and made available when needed. This allows renewable energy to be better integrated into an electric grid. In remote areas that rely on diesel generators, energy storage can be used to cut costly fossil fuel consumption by minimizing energy waste as well as by integrating renewables.
Sigma Energy Storage has partnered with Université de Sherbrooke on a three-year Mitacs-funded project to study the performance of their system and to help improve its current technology.
Quotes:
Alejandro Adem, CEO and Scientific Director, Mitacs
“Mitacs offers our warmest congratulations to Sigma Energy Storage for being recognized as a leader in clean energy technology. It’s an honour for our interns from the Université de Sherbrooke to have the opportunity to partner with Sigma Energy Storage to support sustainable and innovative practices.”
Martin Larocque, CEO, Sigma Energy Storage
“Our relationship with Mitacs has played a key role in the development of our energy storage technology while strengthening our knowledge ecosystem. We are thrilled to have been recognized with the 2016 National Energy Globe Award for Canada and thank Mitacs for their support in the development of this winning technology.”
Quick facts:
- Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 16 years
- Working with 60 universities, thousands of companies, and both federal and provincial governments, Mitacs builds partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada
- Mitacs’ research internship program connects graduate students with industry and not-for-profit partners for collaborations supervised by faculty
- Open to all disciplines and all industry sectors, projects can span a wide range of areas, including manufacturing, business processes, IT, design, and more
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