Photon Vault is a California company based in San Ramon and led by Dr. Kent McCormick. Dr McCormick is a PhD physicist from UC Berkeley who invented our technology, holds our three issued patents, and developed our business model. He is a repeat founder with a successful exit, having co-founded Lattice Engines, a developer of early AI SAAS software designed by Dr. McCormick that he and his co-founder built for over 15 yrs before being selling the company. He has built an 8-member team of experts in engineering, project finance and development, manufacturing, and product design. Photon Vault is supported by the NMCERG Accelerator at NMSU's Arrowhead Center, as well as the CleanTech Open accelerator.
The Photon Vault is a novel thermal energy storage technology solution that employs CO2 as its working fluid and whose capital cost and DC-DC efficiency make it a uniquely effective solution intraday to multi-day long duration energy storage. The working temperatures are modest and easily achievable, raging from 100-500C. Our technology avoids all of the negative impacts of lithium-ion batteries. The Photon Vault system poses no fire risk, does not degrade with each cycle, uses only small amounts of water throughout its life for component cleaning, and contains no hazardous, toxic or rare materials or anything sourced from ethically-problematic markets. Its component materials can be easily recycled upon decommissioning.
Photon Vault is committed to combatting Climate Change with the accelerated deployment of renewable energy. Photon Vault will be the first company to deliver 90% “firm” clean electricity, priced below new Natural Gas or Coal. Each 5MW Photon Vault module will avoid 21,000 tons of CO2 per year. Our proprietary components will be manufactured in underserved rural areas and our projects will bring clean energy to communities that have historically been burdened by dirty fossil fuels.
The biggest challenges for energy storage are capital cost and roundtrip efficiency. Our capital costs are competitive with lithium ion batteries for short durations and are superior to every market-ready long duration storage technology. Nth system LCOS ranges from <$170/MWh for 4hr duration, <$120/MWh for 8hr duration and <$50/MWh for 16hr duration to enable 24/7 clean energy PPAs. For roundtrip efficiency, we have addressed this challenge both economically and technologically.
Our patented hybrid process charges our thermal system with both electricity and direct, medium-grade heat. It first takes electricity in as an operating expense in a refrigeration cycle to make ice – we lose about 50% of that energy thermodynamically. Then we heat our patented bricks with direct heat. There is no incremental cost to that heat in our daily operating expense. It is purely a capital expense to build the capture mechanism, which is either very inexpensive solar thermal or industrial waste heat capture. This direct heat replaces the energy lost in the electricity cycle so that at the end of the charging cycle we can dispatch as much or more electricity as we took in. This process is unique, it is patented, and it is what enables affordable medium and long duration storage.
The Photon Vault employs a modular design that can accommodate smaller systems of 5MW, or very large systems of multiple modules and varying durations. Incremental hours of storage duration cost <$30/kWh. We have very simple supply chains - our only materials are sand, a small amount of graphite, steel, polycarbonate, and purchased machinery. Nothing rare or sourced from difficult markets. Our system will qualify for the 45X domestic manufacturing credit under the IRA, and the 10% domestic content adder to the Renewable Energy Investment Tax Credit. Our system is safe and clean with no hazardous or toxic materials and does not degrade with each cycle.
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