Several alternative energy companies are gathering steam (aka funding) to help broaden the reach of their technologies – some based on some not so new approaches.

One such company is, Ice Energy, a Windsor, Colorado company, which raised $24 million this week.  Ice Energy’s technology is essentially an icebox on a rooftop. During off-peak hours (i.e., overnight), the system makes ice using available electricity. During the daytime, when energy demand is at its highest, the ice cools buildings in lieu of traditional air conditioning. This greatly reduces the amount of fuel utilities consume to deliver electricity for air conditioning by reducing electric demand by 30 percent to 50 percent at a time when electricity is the most scarce and most expensive. Ice Energy claims its energy storage “has the potential to permanently shift as much as 40 percent” of peak energy demand to off-peak hours.

You have to love this company for a few reasons:

• The technology is relatively simple and commercially proven.  Ice Energy currently touts 25 utilities among its customer list, and is working on a new pilot project with Toronto Hydro, and a large-scale project with the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA).
• They are using the $24 million to deploy their technology to their current customers, including a project (their largest), a 53-MW project for Southern California Public Power Authority, as well as a solar and ice combo project with SunPower for PG&E. So this is technology that can be applied on a large scale.
• They are focused.  Ice Energy commonly installs the systems on big box retailers like Staples, or an auto dealership, then works with the local utility to develop incentives for the building owner.  They are focused on the air conditioning market for buildings that are three stories or less which use refrigerant for air conditioning. This segment of the market represents 97 percent of all commercial buildings and 50 percent of commercial air conditioning electricity consumption.

As gigaom put it: At a time when batteries for energy storage remain too expensive for wide-scale deployment, when compressed air energy storage has too many siting and regulatory problems, and when pumped hydro can only be built in certain regions, ice-based energy storage looks very promising. Because of its relatively low cost and quick deployment, it’s like the low hanging fruit of building-based energy storage

Money is seeking these new opportunities.  Last week grid energy storage company Deeya Energy announced it had raised $30 million. For the first quarter of this year, despite an overall drop in venture capital spending, energy storage technology for vehicles and the grid had a $114 million infusion according to Ernst & Young and Dow Jones. That is more than double the $50 million venture capitalists invested in this sector in the first quarter of 2009.

While these numbers are nothing like the nearly $70 billion Brazilian big oil company Petrobras raised last month to drill for more oil, it does shows that good technology with a solid business plan can find cash. As always, in energy, you have to follow the money to know where things are headed.