1414 soars in first week
HAVING successfully raised A$16.3 million in its initial public offer, high-tech energy storage concern 1414 Degrees hit the local bourse this week, starting trading at a small premium and finishing up 31% at yesterday’s close just shy of 30c per share Related Content
This morning it added a further 11% to trade at 33c, capitalising the company at $35.3 million.
The company is "aiming to fill the critical gap for low cost, environmentally friendly energy storage" with its patented Thermal Energy Storage System that takes electricity from any source - the grid or renewables - and stores it as latent heat in molten silicon at 1414 degrees Celsius - hence the name.
It transforms intermittent renewable electricity by providing a level of reliability and stability identical to that of a coal or gas-fired power station over a design life of 20-30 years.
It is designed for minimal maintenance and is environmentally benign.
The first stages of commissioning of the TESS- IND have progressed very well, including successful runs for several hours. The company's trials suggest it works best when constantly active.
"We have run the turbine on hot air six times, producing electricity over runs of up to four-and-half hours and a total combined heat power efficiency of 68%. These results are better than anticipated at this very early stage," executive chairman Dr Kevin Moriarty said.
"Following the cooling of the box, next week we will install the first load of silicon phase change material - a key stage in the commissioning.
"We will progressively increase temperatures and cycle the heat store through latent heat with turbine runs over the coming weeks."
It will allow 1414's engineers the data needed to fine-tune and achieve maximum efficiencies at operational temperature.
The company was been developing its technology for more than a decade, and Dr Moriarty said it starting to attract international attention.
At the recent Electrification 2018 Conference in California, which was attended by 90% of the US power utilities, TESS garnered a lot of interest.
"Many delegates highlighted situations in the US that paralleled the difficulties in Australia with balancing supply and demand for energy," he said.
"The US energy market is competitive and power utilities can be faced with very high spot natural gas prices, creating tough situations where areas of the northeast US have been faced with extreme pricing for many weeks and constriction of gas supply for heat and power.
"There is also an imbalance in renewable energy generation, with big demand in the northeast, but supply mainly located in the west and south of the country."
California, the world's fifth largest economy, recently signed a bill into law to transition the state to being free of carbon-based energy by 2045, a measure that will require massive investments in storage.
"Locating our TESS in this market would help utilities manage reliability. A large utility suggested undertaking a grid scale pilot project in the US, others wanted to know when the devices would be on the market," Dr Moriarty said.
The company is also in discussions with European utilities looking for higher efficiencies from their installed steam turbines, and district heating.
Dr Moriarty said was looking for an opportunity with the shortest path to revenue to help build the company.
14D Price at posting:
30.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
