2005-07-08 18:17 ET - News Release
NEW YORK -- (Business Wire) -- July 8, 2005
Digital Gas, Inc. (OTC Pink Sheets:DIGG) announced today
that it will partner with ICCU of the Netherlands to manufacture and
market the world's most advanced ultracapacitor. The parties will
initially operate under the corporate name "Digital Ultracap". The
new, low-cost energy storage device is ready for market this year. It
has the potential to revolutionize the use of "Green Power" and
"Distributed Generation," as well as to improve the robustness and
efficiency of the traditional electric power grid. These devices
promise to become a standard appliance in commercial and industrial
buildings and in every home in America. Other participants in ICCU
include a major European bank, a major European utility, an
international construction company and an international metals
company.
¶ ICCU's ultracapacitor has achieved an unheard of price
breakthrough per kilowatt hour of storage capacity and can operate
over a minimum thirty-year lifetime with zero maintenance. The
Ultracap will provide an affordable buffer between utility power
generation capacity and power consumption on a massive scale. It is
estimated that this type of device can save up to fifteen billion
dollars ($15 Billion) annually on America's estimated two hundred
billion dollar ($200 Billion) annual electric bill.
¶ The new ultracapacitor will allow utilities to optimally match
their customers fluctuating demand to the generation plant. Since
power consumption varies substantially over the course of a 24-hour
period, as well as seasonally, it has been necessary to oversize the
total power generation capacity in order to meet maximum power
consumption periods, especially when, for example, air conditioning
loads rise dramatically during hot summer days. These maximum power
consumption periods are what lead utilities to initiate so-called
rolling brown-outs and, under extreme conditions, even blackouts, in
order to prevent a total collapse of the power delivery system for a
particular geographic region.
¶ The use of Digital Ultracap's product will improve the robustness
of the grid and permit significant amounts of less reliable
distributed co-generation to be added to the grid better than any
product expected to penetrate the market in the foreseeable future. In
addition, this affordable, reliable, robust and long-lived energy
storage unit will permit the operation of remote power facilities that
depend on local renewable generation without access to the grid. This
is particularly important in the case of where the cost of
transportation of the back-up fossil fuels is significant and for
developing countries deploying solar and wind generators. As such, the
new ultracap will greatly assist the economy and proliferation of
renewable power generation technologies such as wind power, solar
power, and tidal power generating devices, as well as hybrid power
generation technologies such as micro-CHP (combined heat/power) and
fuel-cells. The new ultracapacitor will efficiently store the energy
produced until it is needed for use. For example, the wind does not
necessarily blow and the sun does not necessarily shine at those
moments when the resulting power generated is required for
consumption.
¶ The ultracap will allow utilities to minimize the power generation
capacity on hand since they can now economically store electricity
that can be instantly tapped when either a spike occurs in electric
consumption by their industrial, commercial and residential customers
or there is unforeseen equipment downtime. This ultracapacitor buffer
also allows utilities to operate their generators at maximum
efficiency as opposed to ramping power generation up and down which
results in less economic consumption of fossil fuels burned by their
generators. This ramping up and down in turn contributes to
unnecessary production of greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide).
Theoretically, utilities could even decommission power generators if
sufficient widely distributed energy storage capacity were available.
This storage capacity would allow them to operate their generators
night and day at a relatively constant output at their highest
efficiency fuel and emissions efficiency, thereby lowering their base
power generation capacity need. Home owners that buy the product can
realize the advantage of buying electricity at off-peak prices and
using it during peak usage hours.
¶ The Department of Energy is promoting the implementation of
distributed generation technology along with renewable power
generation. Distributed generation plants can more readily
significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases compared to
typical central power plants. Central power plants more often than not
have no local users for the waste heat. Distributed generation can
virtually cut in half the amount of greenhouse gases produced
vis-a-vis central power plants. This emission reduction of carbon
dioxide is possible because conventional power generation devices
normally convert half of the fuel consumed to waste heat that is
vented to the atmosphere. If, on the other hand, the power generator
is located at the site where the power is consumed, the heat that
would normally be vented to the atmosphere can be instead utilized for
space heating or hot water heating, among other useful applications.
Digital Gas' farming centers, for example, that are planned for the
previously announced East St. Louis waste-to-energy plant, can utilize
waste heat for greenhouses and aquatic farming.
¶ Where applicable, the ultracap will present an immediate emissions
reduction and trading opportunity for utilities. Due to their higher
efficient power generation, utilities can gain valuable carbon-credits
to be traded on international markets. Currently, a metric ton (2200
lbs.) is traded around twenty dollars per ton per year coming up from
eight dollars per ton in 2004. Consulting companies project the price
to rise to eighty dollars per metric ton per year in 2008.
¶ The ultracapacitor is so unusual in its price and performance
characteristics that it represents a totally new class of energy
storage technology. Digital Gas, which is partnering with ICCU to
commercialize the ultracapacitor in North and South America and other
markets to be announced, intends to work closely with major utilities,
as well as local, state and national governments to rapidly and fully
exploit the environmental and economic benefits of the storage
technology. Digital Ultracap's product, which can store electricity
with 95% efficiency, can currently offer utilities energy storage
systems at approximately $400 per kWh, including power electronics.
Existing flow-battery systems store energy with only 80-85%
efficiency. Over time, this difference in efficiency translates into a
significant operating cost difference.
¶ One major opportunity that the ultracapacitor represents to
utilities is the ability to store energy in such massive quantities
that the otherwise unavoidable upgrade of the grid, estimated to cost
approximately one hundred billion dollars ($100 Billion), can be
reduced by a substantial percentage. The US grid itself represents a
total investment of approximately one trillion dollars ($1 Trillion)
and must be not only constantly maintained, but also continually
expanded to meet power consumption growth of approximately 2.5 percent
per year. If the ultracapacitor can reduce this upgrade cost of even a
few percent, Billions can be saved and valuable real estate and
critical wildlife areas not be subjected to use as power corridors or
sites for additional generation plants.
¶ Digital Ultracap intends to demonstrate its technology for federal
and state energy officials, as well as for executives of utilities
facing rapidly escalating cost of peaking fuels and increasing costs
of environmental compliance. The new ultracap represents an
opportunity to substitute power generation capacity with energy
storage capacity, a considerably cheaper alternative in terms of cost
per kWh.
¶ "I am looking forward to working with Digital Gas and its in-house
energy technologists to market these products throughout North and
South America," said Theo van Bakkum, President and CEO of ICCU. Mr.
van Bakkum indicated that this ultracapacitor is a dramatic
improvement over competing energy storage devices and anticipates that
his company's intellectual property provides a cushion of several
years' market leadership.
¶ ICCU's ultracap is itself "Green". It contains no heavy metals, no
chemicals and no fumes, has fast upload and discharge, has improved
power quality on frequency and voltage, has improved reliability,
security and comfort, stackable variable capacities and an extremely
long life cycle.
¶ "Our product can be marketed now as an uninterrupted power supply
or bridge for relatively large applications, for renewable and hybrid
power generation, for the automotive market in cars and trucks to
provide consistent starting power under all weather conditions and
other applications," said Mr. van Bakkum. "There are no effective
competitors expected within the next few years because of the long R&D
lead-time and our patents and know-how. Much like Dell computer, if
competition shows up we will have a tremendous mass production and
sales volume advantage that will allow us to defend our market share
with extremely competitive pricing," added Mr. van Bakkum.
¶ To enhance the financial condition of the company in the first
year, Digital Gas will contribute producing and highly prospective
coal bed methane properties for the purpose of providing the new
business with internally generated cash flow. Its target will be to
contribute properties that are producing $20 million after tax
annually by the first quarter of 2006. This will make the immediate
investment in Digital Ultracap even more attractive to the major
investors that Digital Gas' financial agents and investment bankers
are negotiating with. Digital Gas is negotiating with several large
investment groups and public companies with excess cash interested in
pursuing a reverse merger for Digital Ultracap with a publicly traded
company. This will result in a significant stock dividend for Digital
Gas shareholders if the company decides to spinout its ownership to
them.
¶ Digital Gas is now evaluating several US manufacturing entities
with excess capacity. It is planning to commence automated production
of the ultracap at commercial volumes in late 2005 or early 2006. A
leading candidate for initial production is a 500,000-plus square-foot
electronics manufacturing facility. Sales are projected to hit one
billion seven hundred million dollars ($1.7 Billion) annually by 2010.
The facility would also be used to manufacture the low temperature and
high temperature solid oxide fuel cell systems that it anticipates
will both complement the ultracapacitor product and be used for a
variety of stand alone purposes, including gas processing or the
residential, small business, entertainment, hospitality and commercial
real estate markets, as well as for enhanced oil & gas recovery in
situ.
¶ Major utilities, potential large corporate customers and local,
state and federal governments may express interest or inquire further
at our email address below.
Contacts:
Digital Gas, Inc.
Brian Smith, 732-927-4073
energei@optonline.net
Source: Digital Gas, Inc.
