By Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
The State University of New York’s (SUNY) Purchase College will start the new year taking control of a thermal energy storage system built on campus by Brenmiller Energy.
The bGen thermal energy storage-based (TESS) co-generation system was completed by Brenmiller and developed in partnership with the New York Power Authority. Using exhaust gas and electricity from an on-site combined heat and power microturbine, the bGen TESS is expected to eliminate close to 550 metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually compared to previous power pollution output.
Israel-based Brenmiller is turning over operation of the system to SUNY’s campus in Purchase, New York by mid-January.
“Turning over the operation of the first bGen system in the United States is a huge milestone for Brenmiller,” company CEO Avi Brenmiller said in a statement. “We’ve had a highly productive and rewarding experience working in collaboration with the New York Power Authority and SUNY.”
The company’s bGen technology stores energy, from both excess heat and electricity, in crushed rocks and can deliver steam or hot air on demand, according to the Brenmiller website. The TESS units have been utilized in other projects globally, including at a plastics manufacturing plant in Brazil.
The SUNY project was financed partially by a grant from the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation. Brenmiller’s bGen Zero technology was recently highlighted by TIME magazine as one of the 22 best inventions of 2023.
When the project was originally announced in 2020, among the partners named were Brenmiller, NYPA, and Capstone Turbine Corp.
According to a study commissioned by the Renewable Thermal Collaborative, a scaling up for thermal battery deployment nationwide would eliminate almost 800 million metric tons of GHG emissions per year.
