Rentricity

For many years, reports of climate change have increased awareness of the need for renewable energy throughout the world. Great progress is being made in finding ways to use natural resources which are constantly replenished, such as wind and sunlight, instead of fossil fuels like coal and oil. Rentricity is a pioneer in this field. Its energy recovery technique, Flow-to-Wire, targets surplus energy in existing drinking water, wastewater and industrial processes, converting it into clean electric power.

“The idea came to me as I was looking at temporary office space with some colleagues, shortly after 9/11,” says Frank Zammataro, President and Co-Founder of Rentricity.

“We began to think about how high-rise buildings had enormous potential for renewable energy, if we could find a way to exploit the flows and direct it to an electricity source.”

A win-win situation

Their research showed that, in fact, high-rise buildings do not have enough sustained pressure to make them a suitable candidate for harvesting renewable energy. But, they found that the constant pressures and flows in systems used by water companies was exploitable using technology available today. So, they developed a new turbine configuration that lets companies generate power using energy held within their water systems, which would otherwise be wasted.

“It’s a win-win situation,” says Zammataro. “Primarily, it’s good for the environment. But, it’s also commercially sound. From our clients’ point of view, using our system shows that they are environmentally aware and builds public goodwill. Economically, the client can also use the energy we capture to reduce their own electricity expenses. And, efficiency-wise, while we’re fitting our equipment within their system to monitor flow and pressures, we help the company to keep track of their own performance.”

Home and away

Rentricity had great success at home in the United States, with bases in New York, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. When they came to consider expansion overseas, the company saw great opportunities in the emerging markets in China and India, where they could get into brand new infrastructure in the very early stages of its development. The UK also appealed, as there has been a lot of renewable energy activity going on here in recent years.

“The UK is very advanced in terms of renewable technologies,” says Zammataro. “It was clearly a target market for us, but we didn’t know how to establish a presence here. As a small start up company, we couldn’t afford to do it alone.”

“ The UK is very advanced in terms of renewable technologies”

Practical help

That’s where UK company Mouchel came in. Energy recovery is a high priority for this professional support services company, and in May 2006 they invited Rentricity to enter into a joint venture. This partnership would be a critical step for Rentricity, allowing the smaller company to benefit from expertise and know-how that it would not have had otherwise.

Later that year, when Rentricity met UK Trade & Investment representatives at an event in Houston, Texas, they found a further source of support and advice. After the event, UK Trade & Investment in New York was able to help the company to identify key organisations and experts in the UK that would help to qualify its technology as being credible.

“UK Trade & Investment knew exactly who we should call,” says Zammataro. “They helped us to identify contacts at the relevant energy organisations and also put us in touch with potential clients, helping us to integrate our technology into technology already being developed in the UK.”

Joint venture

Having explored the possibility of coming to the UK in more detail, the joint venture between Mouchel and Rentricity was set up in March 2007. Since then, the company has already embarked on assessment projects with Thames Water and Severn Trent, with a view to carrying out pilot programmes at their plants.

“We hope to run pilot projects in three different areas of the water industry,” says Zammataro. “Potable drinking water, waste, and industrial water all have great potential for energy recovery. It’s still early days for us, but we feel the UK is ready for it - and so are we.”

“ UK Trade & Investment knew exactly who we should call”

Renewable energy in the UK

The UK is a world leader in renewable energy. Having adopted the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, there has been a very strong focus on finding alternative energy forms. “We really welcome the UK emphasis on renewable energy,” says Zammataro. “This area is more advanced here than in the United States. There is a general awareness and belief in UK businesses, and not just at Government level, that clean energy should be a part of their critical investment, and we are excited to be a part of this.”