It’s with great delight that I read about the handful of U.S. utilities that are seriously testing out various conservation, smart grid, storage and renewable technologies in an effort to extend greener offerings to customers. The latest is Duke Energy’s McAlpine Creek project, part of which involves the deployment of a 50 kilowatt solar PV array, consisting of 213 solar panels, at a substation that feeds the grid or, alternatively, can charge up a 500-kilowatt zinc-bromide battery system.

Duke hasn’t revealed any detail of the specific vendor technologies it is using, but I’m betting that the battery system for this particular pilot comes from Mass.-based Premium Power, which is largely operating in stealth mode at the moment. For one, the company’s TransFlow 2000 product fits the bill. It has 500 kilowatts of power and stores up to 500 kilowatts  2.8 megawatt-hours, is UL and CSA certified, and one of its main applications is for the time-shift of renewable generation energy. Boston Power, backed by VantagePoint Venture Partners, claims its storage product costs the same as pumped storage over the long term, or about 2 cents per kilowatt-hour. I also remind that last October, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at an event in Toronto, he mentioned that Duke Energy had ordered $100 million worth of Premium Power’s batteries. An advisor and partner with VantagePoint, Kennedy also said a Canadian utility had ordered $100 million of the batteries as well.

Still haven’t nailed down who the Canadian utility is, but clearly Duke’s latest pilot project involves the TransFlow system. I spoke briefly with Bic Stevens, senior vice-president of business development at Premium Power and he remained cagey about the relationship with Duke. He would neither confirm nor deny that Duke was using the company’s product, though acknowledged it’s only a matter of time before details emerge. “As units get shipped out to big utilities they’re going to choose to advertise it or not advertise it, and eventually word will get out,” he said.

I would love to learn that it’s an Ontario utility (Ontario Power Generation, or Hydro One) testing out the Premium Power product, but I’m guessing — and this is purely a hunch — that Alberta’s EPCOR Utilities is the buyer. If there’s anyone reading this who has the scoop, please tell — I promise to keep a secret

Then Kennedy throws out this zinger: The company has a $100 million order for its batteries from a Canadian utility, and another $100 million order from Duke Energy.

Wahhhh? I figured he mispoke, that he was exaggerating, and as an advisor confused some facts. After the speech, I sat down with him and asked him about that comment. He seemed a bit taken aback by my interest, but didn’t backtrack. I asked about the Canadian utility, and he confirmed but said he couldn’t name the utility. I asked about Duke, and he confirmed. He stuck to the $100-million figure for each order.

Now, there’s not much known about Premium Power, beyond VantagePoint’s investment. In 2006 the company was awarded a $500,000 grant through a trust overseen by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The company said at the time it planned to use the money to “scale their stacks into a large-scale Zinc-Flow 9000 system suitable for integration with renewable-energy sources such as wind and PV for load-leveling.”

Now that’s intriguing. Premium Power’s Web site doesn’t mention the Zinc-Flow 9000, and strangely it has removed all past and present press releases from the site. Yet here we have Kennedy, an advisor to Premium Power’s top investor and certainly a man armed with a wealth of knowledge, talking about $200 million worth of energy-storage orders.

Hmmmm… this could  be interesting.

One More Note: Kennedy also said Premium Power’s battery costs “less than” $200 per kilowatt-hour. That compares favorably to sodium-sulfur batteries from companies like Japan’s NGK, which cost about $250 per kilowatt-hour, and vanadium flow batteries from companies like Vancouver-based VRB Power, which cost about $400 per kilowatt-hour. If Premium’s zinc-bromide battery is truly half the price of the VRB battery, then the economics of such storage become much more compelling.

Well, not so white — as in snowy — yet, but certainly north. And Great, I should add. It is, however, starting to getting pretty cool these days. Maybe it’s because the federal Conservatives were re-elected? Hmmm…

Below is a wrap-up of news from Lignol Energy, Wal-Mart Canada, Enbridge, VRB Power, and 6N Silicon, ending with my suggestion of three cleantech/energy books that are good reads.

Lignol and Suncor Energy, looking like a couple still trying to “get to know” each other, look as if they’re warming to the idea of a closer bond. The two companies announced they will work more closely on cellulosic ethanol research and plans to development a full-scale commercial plant. This is an important relationship for Lignol considering Suncor’s market clout and its pioneering production of ethanol in the Canadian market.

Wal-Mart Canada has decided to begin recycling polystyrene foam from product packaging. It has struck a relationship with Grace Canada, which will recycle the foam using a proprietary process and turn it into fire-resistant commercial insulation for the building market. W. R. Grace & Co., the parent company of Grace Canada, has three plants in North America, including one in Ajax, Ontario, that has been recycling polystyrene foam since 1997. The Ajax plant can alone can process 4 million pounds of foam annually. Wal-Mart will begin the recycling program at eight of its stores in Southern Ontario. What’s less certain is whether this program applies only to in-store generated packaging waste, or if the stores will accept packaging from customers who buy its products.

Enbridge has finally cut the ribbon on its “Direct Fuel Cell-Energy Recovery Generation” system, which produces 2.2 megawatts of low-emission electricity. It’s the first multi-megawatt commercial fuel cell to operate in Canada, and as a hybrid energy system is the first of its kind in the world. I first wrote about this project back in April 2007. You can read that article for more details on how the system works. It’s pretty cool, actually.

Flow-battery maker VRB Power Systems announced that it is a “potential supplier” of two 60-kilowatt, 4-hour flow battery systems that would be used to store power from a wind farm in Nova Scotia. This comes three weeks after Vancouver-based VRB said it was conducting an engineering design study for a “large scale” storage system in Alaska. I’m a big fan of the potential of flow batteries for utility-scale energy storage, but I’m disappointed — as I’m sure many observers are — with the progress that VRB has made. Announcements of being a “potential supplier” of tiny pilot projects are getting tired. When is this company going to do something significant? I’ve got a feeling it will run out of money before that day happens, but one can hope.

6N Silicon has begun operation of its 2,000-tonne a year solar grade silicon manufacturing facility in Vaughan, just north of Toronto. The facility was constructed on time and on budget — very impressive.

On a final note, here are three books I’m either reading or planning to read soon, in case anyone is interested. Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat and Crowded is so far an excellent read (though one or two chapters are a bit alarmist). Next on my list is the Green Collar Economy, by activist Van Jones. The title speaks for itself, and interesting is that it just made it onto the New York Times bestsellers list for non-fiction hardcover — debuting at No. 12. Finally, for those interested in how the Alberta oil sands are turning Canada into a petrostate (or already have), I’m just about to crack the spin on Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, by Canadian journalist Andrew Nikiforuk. I heard Andrew interviewed yesterday on CBC Radio and his new book sounds both enlightening and frightening.

Have I mentioned that the U.S. wants to eat Canada’s lunch when it comes to creating green-collar jobs and manufacturing? By sitting back and reaping the short-term rewards of being a petrostate, and at the same time underestimating the green economy being built around us, we’re ripping off future generations.