Ice Energy on a hot streak with new funding in place

FORT COLLINS – Business for Ice Energy LLC is about to heat up.

Last month the Fort Collins start-up closed a private placement from investors intended to support the company’s sales push into the key California market.

The funding – Ice Energy declined to disclose the figures – also gives the company resources to pay its upper management, who have served for little pay during the first two years of the company’s existence.

Ice Energy makes air conditioning technology based on the cooling powers of melting ice.

The company’s Ice Bear products freeze water overnight, when demand for electricity is low and prices are cheapest. As the ice melts during the day, the machine blows chilled air through a connected air conditioning system.

As a result, the Ice Bear – a distributed energy system – shifts the burden of air conditioning demand to overnight hours.

Shifting electricity demand is considered important to both public and private utilities, because it keeps the mid-day peak demands from spiking beyond a utility’s capacity to generate electricity.

If peak demand is moderated, that means utilities don’t have to build pricey new power plants to cover those spikes.

Ice Energy has installed nine Ice Bears so far, but the company has commitments for 50 more over the next two months, said Randy Zwetzig, vice president of marketing for Ice Energy.

“This year we are planning to ship hundreds of units,” Zwetzig said. “Next year we’re planning on shipping thousands of units.”

Much of Ice Energy’s near-term expectations are due to changing building standards in California, which take effect in October. California, which has experienced blackout problems in the recent past, has mandated more energy efficiency in all new construction as well as remodeled buildings.

The state’s new laws “put limits on how much peak energy you can use during peak periods,” Zwetzig said.

Compliance with the California standards could require options such as fewer and smaller windows, super-efficient air conditioners, thicker walls and more insulation. But Ice Energy contends that its Ice Bear product supplants the need for many of those options, all of which effect building design.

When tested in building simulations, the Ice Bear proved itself to be “the best option in terms of regaining design flexibility,” Zwetzig said.

Ice Energy has applied to the California Energy Commission to list the Ice Bear as an approved energy option.

“Once you are approved and listed as option, then you’re included in simulators that building designers use to make sure they are compliant with the new codes,” Zwetzig said.

Meanwhile, Ice Energy has opened a new sales office in Newport Beach, Calif., and plans to open an office in Sacramento.

The recent private placement will pay for new sales staff on the West coast, as well as additional product development and marketing staff in Fort Collins. The company currently as 16 workers in Fort Collins.

Ice Energy’s broader marketing plans target four sales opportunities: national accounts, such as chain stores; residential homebuilders; energy service companies, such as Honeywell, and public and private utilities.

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