Utility Savings & Refund, LLC Announces Sales Agreement with Prudent Energy International, Inc.

May 6, 2009 - PRLog -- Just days after the announcement by Vice President Joe Biden of $615 million for smart grid storage, Utility Savings & Refund, LLC (US&R) has agreed to become a sales affiliate for Prudent Energy International, the global leader in advanced energy storage based on the vanadium redox battery (VRB-ESS™).  

Energy storage is essential to the growth of renewable energy, and US&R has been advocating the VRB-ESS for large storage projects since 2006.  Funding provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the Smart Grid will help accelerate these projects.  

In addition, California has also initiated substantial rebates of up to $2 million per megawatt for energy storage under the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).  Charles R. Toca, Manager of US&R, believes that, “These incentives come at the right time for US&R and Prudent Energy to begin installing the energy storage essential for intermittent renewables like wind and solar.  Without energy storage like the VRB-ESS, the grid will continue to add more natural gas fired peaker plants to balance wind, thereby increasing emissions and essentially creating “dirty” wind energy.”

US&R has been most active in California, developing projects at generators, utilities and industrial energy users, and working with the various state energy agencies.  The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is especially interested in the fast response capabilities of energy storage technologies like the VRB-ESS to regulate wind power.  According to the CAISO Report of Integration of Renewable Energy, Sept. 2005, "New types of energy storage technologies are needed that can help with the integration of large amounts of renewables and energy from intermittent resources.  Storage technology has the advantage of not using fossil fuel so storage facilities do not directly contribute to greenhouse gas production. If the energy in storage comes from renewable resources, they are simply storing the green energy and delivering it back to the system when it is needed."

Johnson Yu, CEO of Prudent Energy, agrees, “The expansion of intermittent wind energy will increase the need for regulation.  By working together, I can see the potential for achieving wide acceptance of the VRB-ESS as a preferred, clean-tech alternative, increasing the supply of electricity and reducing greenhouse emissions”.

About Utility Savings & Refund, LLC

Utility Savings & Refund, LLC was established by Charles R. Toca in 2001 to sell clean energy natural gas and energy cost savings services to large energy users.  US&R has helped form associations and buying groups to procure energy and reduce costs, including the California Electric Users Cooperative and the BioEnergy Producers Association.  Charles Toca is certified in energy procurement by the Association of Energy Engineers, and is an active participant in proceedings related to the smart grid, energy storage and demand response at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the California Energy Commission (CEC) and CAISO, and has spoken on energy storage at energy industry events. http://www.utility-savings.com/

About Prudent Energy

Prudent Energy is a privately held company based in Beijing China.  Draper Fisher Jurvetson (www.dfj.com) and DT Capital Partners (www.dtcap.com) are major institutional investors in Prudent Energy.  Prudent Energy formed Prudent Energy International, a Canadian based company, after acquiring the assets of VRB Power, Inc, in January 2009. The Company designs, develops and is commercializing the VRB energy storage technology to support stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid operation as well as the integration of large scale renewable energy. The VRB-ESS (VRB Energy Storage System) can economically store and supply large amounts of electricity on demand and is focused on stationary applications. It is a long life, cost effective, low maintenance, efficient technology that allows for the scalability of power and storage capacity independently. The VRB-ESS is particularly beneficial to renewable energy providers, utilities and end users through its ability to “inventory” electricity, allowing for the optimal match of supply and demand.