Echogen Power Systems - Comprehensive Analysis Report

Summary

Echogen Power Systems, established in 2007, is a pioneer in sustainable thermal energy solutions, focusing on waste heat recovery, long-duration energy storage (LDES), and high-temperature heat pumps (HTHP). The company's core mission is to accelerate the global transition to a sustainable energy future by providing efficient, reliable thermal energy systems. Echogen aims to address critical grid challenges and industrial decarbonization needs through its proprietary supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) power cycles, converting waste heat into clean power and enabling extended energy storage. Echogen is positioned as a key partner in the shift towards a low-carbon energy economy, contributing to innovation, sustainability, and the expansion of renewable energy applications.

1. Strategic Focus & Objectives

Echogen Power Systems' strategic focus is centered on advancing sustainable energy technologies using supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) power cycles. The company is committed to innovation, sustainability, and expanding renewable energy applications.

Core Objectives

Emissions Reduction: Develop and deploy technologies that significantly cut carbon emissions across industrial and power generation sectors.

Cost Efficiency: Lower operating costs for industrial processes and energy storage through highly efficient thermal energy systems and reduced reliance on fossil fuels.

Operational Stability & Grid Reliability: Enhance grid resilience and stability by providing reliable, dispatchable energy solutions, particularly long-duration storage.

Industrial Decarbonization: Support heavy industries in transitioning away from fossil-fueled processes towards all-electric, clean heat and steam generation.

Renewable Energy Integration: Facilitate the broader adoption and integration of renewable energy sources into the grid through effective storage solutions.

Specialization Areas

Echogen specializes in three primary solution areas, all leveraging sCO₂ power cycles:

Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES): Utilizing Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) systems, Echogen converts electricity into heat using abundant, low-cost materials (water, concrete, sand), then converts it back to electricity on demand. These utility-scale solutions provide reliable energy for hours to days without performance degradation or reliance on rare earths, balancing renewables and strengthening grid resilience.

High-Temperature sCO₂ Heat Pumps (HTHP): These systems deliver high-temperature steam and process heat (in excess of 300°C) to industrial applications, replacing fossil-fueled boilers. They offer efficient, all-electric industrial decarbonization, significantly reducing emissions and operating costs.

Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) Systems: Employing sCO₂ cycles, Echogen transforms industrial and power-generation waste heat directly into clean, dispatchable power. These compact, closed-loop systems integrate seamlessly into existing operations, reducing energy costs and carbon footprints without additional fuel consumption or emissions.

Target Markets

Echogen's technologies serve diverse industries, including:

Power Generation: Enhancing grid stability and integrating renewable energy.

Oil and Gas: Recovering waste heat and improving energy efficiency.

Marine: Reducing emissions and improving efficiency in shipping.

Industrial Sectors: Including chemicals, food and beverage, and consumer goods manufacturing, targeting process heating and decarbonization.

Utilities: Providing grid-scale long-duration energy storage solutions.

2. Financial Overview

Echogen Power Systems operates as a privately held entity, with a significant history of funding and strategic grants.

Funding History

The company has historically raised $59 million in total funding. Another source indicates $11.1 million in historical funding raised.

Total Funds Raised: $59 million (or $11.1 million, based on reporting sources).

Key Investors:

Free Electrons

Plug and Play Tech Center

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Dresser-Rand Group

Aberne

JumpStart Inc. (participated in a $2.0 million equity funding round in March 2013).

Recent Funding Rounds & Grants:

U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E DAYS Initiative: Awarded a $4.45 million grant to further develop its Electrothermal Energy Storage (ETES) cycle and high-temperature reservoir alternatives.

U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO): In August 2024, Echogen received a $3.0 million award over three years for a pioneering program to design, build, install, and operate a pilot-scale High-Temperature Heat Pump (HTHP) system.

Fund Utilization: Capital is primarily utilized to support research and development of new technologies and facilitate entry into new geographic markets, with aspirations for expansion into Europe and Asia by 2025.

Estimated Annual Revenue: Between $3.8 million and $6 million, with an estimated revenue per employee of $147,000.

3. Product Pipeline

Echogen's product development pipeline is focused on sCO₂-based systems for long-duration energy storage, industrial decarbonization, and heat-to-power conversion.

Key Products/Services

Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES)

Description: Grid-scale electricity storage system that converts electricity into heat using low-cost, durable materials and converts it back to electrical power on demand using sCO₂ in a closed loop.

Development Stage: Commercial deployment with strategic partners and pilot projects underway.

Target Market/Condition: Utility-scale applications, balancing renewable energy, strengthening grid resilience, and providing dispatchable power for 6 to 100 hours. Targets capacities of 50 MW and above.

Expected Timeline: First grid-scale PTES system in Slovakia planned to be operational by 2030 through a partnership with Westinghouse Electric Company and Vodohospodárska Výstavba (VVB). Another commercial PTES deployment is in Alaska.

Key Features & Benefits: Modular solutions (25MW and 50MW power blocks), minimum durations of 6+ hours, no performance degradation, absence of rare earths, minimal fire risks, high round-trip efficiency (>60%).

High-Temperature Heat Pumps (HTHP)

Description: Systems capable of delivering high-temperature steam and process fluids (in excess of 300°C from ambient heat sources) to industrial processes, using CO₂ as the working fluid.

Development Stage: 500 kWth pilot-scale system under development, with a $3.0 million DOE award to design, build, install, and operate a pilot system.

Target Market/Condition: Industrial heating applications in sectors like chemicals, food and beverage, and consumer goods manufacturing, replacing fossil-fueled boilers.

Expected Timeline: Ongoing development and pilot project deployment.

Key Features & Benefits: Generates over 300°C air, projects over 90% reduction in carbon emissions, over 50% reduction in energy intensity, and a payback period of better than 3 years at commercial scales (5 to 25 MWth) compared to direct electrical heaters.

Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) - EPS100

Description: A patent-pending, 8 MW heat recovery system that utilizes an advanced closed-loop Rankine cycle with industrial-grade CO₂ to extract power from various waste heat sources.

Development Stage: Commercially available since 2014, with full-scale testing conducted.

Target Market/Condition: Integration into existing industrial operations (e.g., kilns, furnaces, gas turbines, engines), oil and gas, and marine sectors.

Expected Timeline: Currently deployed.

Key Features & Benefits: Transforms waste heat directly into clean, dispatchable power without additional fuel or emissions, compact design for seamless integration, reduces energy costs and carbon footprints.

4. Technology & Innovation

Echogen's core technological platform is built upon supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) power cycles, offering highly efficient, compact, and flexible energy systems. In its supercritical state, CO₂ exhibits properties intermediate between those of a gas and a liquid, facilitating superior thermodynamic performance.

Technology Stack

Core Platforms and Technologies: Supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) power cycles are central to all Echogen's solutions across energy storage, industrial heat pumps, and waste heat recovery. The company's systems use sCO₂ as the working fluid in modified Rankine Cycles and other thermodynamic power conversion cycles.

Proprietary Developments:

Thermafficient® Waste Heat Recovery Engine: Uses a modified Rankine Cycle with sCO₂ for efficient thermal energy recovery.

EPS100: An 8 MW sCO₂ heat recovery system.

PTES System: Stores electricity as heat in low-cost, durable materials and leverages sCO₂ in a closed loop, ensuring no performance degradation, absence of rare earths, and minimal fire risks.

Scientific Methodologies: Echogen's approach emphasizes rigorous engineering, in-house building, testing, and refinement, based on sound physics. They utilize advanced thermodynamics and precision turbomachinery for their sCO₂ systems. The high density of sCO₂ allows for a very small equipment footprint and efficient heat transfer at moderate temperatures, leading to high round-trip efficiency (>60%) for energy storage. The company's intellectual property was developed from early work involving licensing a NASA technology, "Champagne" CO₂ absorption heat pump.

Technical Capabilities: Expertise in designing and implementing closed-loop, high-efficiency thermal energy systems capable of operating at high temperatures and pressures, enabling significant power generation and heat transfer from waste sources.

Patents and Intellectual Property

Echogen Power Systems, LLC holds a robust intellectual property portfolio, as evidenced by several granted patents in thermal energy conversion and sCO₂ systems:

"Active thrust management of a turbopump within a supercritical working fluid circuit in a heat engine system" (Patent numbers: 11293309, 10570777).

"Systems and methods for controlling the pressure of a working fluid at an inlet of a pressurization device of a heat engine system" (Patent number: 10472994).

"Heat engine systems with high net power supercritical carbon dioxide circuits" (Patent number: 10934895).

"Systems and methods for generating electricity via a pumped thermal energy storage system" (Patent numbers: 11187112, 10883388).

"Hybrid power generation and energy storage system" (Patent number: 8099198).

"Thermodynamic power conversion cycle and methods of use" (Patent number: 7900450).

"Heat engine and heat to electricity systems and methods with working fluid fill system" (Patent number: 8281593).

"Thermal energy conversion method" (Patent number: 8794002).

"Heat engine system including an integrated cooling circuit" (Patent number: 10024198).

"Split expansion heat pump cycle" (Patent numbers: 20210348806, 11435120).

5. Leadership & Management

Echogen Power Systems is led by a team of experienced professionals with strong backgrounds in engineering and business.

Executive Team

Philip Brennan – CEO & Co-Founder

Professional Background: Co-founded Echogen in 2007 and has served as CEO since 2009. Brings over 25 years of experience in general management, business development, marketing, and sales from Fortune 100 companies (e.g., Rubbermaid, Pfizer) and start-ups.

Notable Achievements: Instrumental in securing equity and grant funding for the company.

Key Contributions: Visionary leadership, strategic direction, and financial stewardship.

LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-brennan-34908018/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-brennan-34908018/)

Mark Terzola – COO

Professional Background: Previously a partner at Roetzel & Andress, where he established and built the firm's intellectual property group. Experience with multinational corporations and pre-revenue start-ups.

Key Contributions: Oversees operational efficiency and intellectual property management.

LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-terzola-0678844/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-terzola-0678844/)

Timothy Held – CTO

Professional Background: Holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University. Former manager of Commercial Engine and Industrial Aeroderivatives Combustor Aero Design groups for GE Aviation, leading product introduction teams for low emissions combustor technology.

Notable Achievements: Named inventor on numerous patents assigned to Echogen Power Systems.

Key Contributions: Drives technological innovation and product development, particularly in sCO₂ systems.

LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-held-phd-ab71741/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-held-phd-ab71741/)

Dan Nadav – VP of Sales

Professional Background: Over 15 years of international experience in sales, business development, marketing, and project finance within leading technology and manufacturing companies.