Radiative Sky Cooling-Enabled Efficiency Improvements on Commercial Cooling Systems 

SkyCool Systems Inc.

Recipient

Mountain View, CA

Recipient Location

13th

Senate District

23rd

Assembly District

beenhere

$1,770,619

Amount Spent

refresh

Active

Project Status

Project Update

The SkyCool team has focused its efforts on the design, permitting and implementation of its technology at two refrigeration sites in California. The two demonstration systems are in commercial refrigeration applications and used to show the energy savings potential of radiative cooling in different climate zones of California. The first demonstration system was implemented in 2021, and the second site completed installation in 2023. The team is now focusing on data collection, measurement and verification, and analysis.

The Issue

Commercial space cooling and refrigeration systems contribute to a significant percentage of commercial electricity use in California. A challenge with standard cooling systems is that they become less efficient as the ambient air temperature outside rises. This rise in ambient temperature causes the condenser to increase in temperature and pressure, resulting in more energy consumption. The increase in consumption on hot days causes strain to the grid, sometimes resulting in an inability to meet the demand of electricity. There is a need for technologies that reduce electricity use of commercial air conditioning and refrigeration systems that can be added to existing equipment.

Project Innovation

This project is demonstrating a technology that will enable new and existing refrigeration systems to run more efficiently. The technology being demonstrated is a rooftop-mounted, radiative sky-cooling panel that has a specialized film to enable daytime radiative cooling. The panels cool without evaporating water and only require electricity to run a small circulating pump. The cooling effect from the panels occurs all day, which is well aligned with the 24/7 operation of refrigeration systems in supermarkets and air conditioning systems in data centers and hotels. In this project, SkyCool Panels will demonstrate its use cases at two sites. The first site will use the panels as a passive subcooler in a commercial supermarket to increase the refrigeration system efficiency as much as 10%. The second site will build off learnings from the first site to focus on scaling the system for broad applications.

Project Benefits

This Agreement will lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs to overcome barriers to the achievement of the State of California's statutory energy goals. It will enable the measurement and verification of two promising integrations for a platform cooling technology in operational commercial settings, the results of which might not otherwise have been deployed if pursued purely through a competitive consumer market. SkyCool technology will help California reach policy goals set out in SB 100, SB 350, AB 32, and AB 758 by reducing barriers for installing the panels in commercial systems and enable the broader adoption across California's cold chain and HVAC sectors.

Lower Costs

Affordability

This project will demonstrate lower operating costs in commercial buildings with the reduction of electricity usage of a commercial air conditioning system by 50% and a commercial refrigeration system by 10%.

Environmental & Public Health

Environmental Sustainability

Deployment of SkyCool panels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the electricity consumed from the grid, and they do not use high-GWP refrigerants. SkyCool panels also reduce water consumption associated with cooling.

Greater Reliability

Reliability

Deployment of SkyCool panels can improve grid reliability by reducing facility peak demand. The highest demand for electricity is typically during summer afternoons/early evening when the demand for cooling is greatest.

Key Project Members

Project Member

Arjun Saroya

CEO
Project Member

Eli Goldstein

CTO

Subrecipients

Rocket

Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.

Rocket

Interface Engineering, Inc. dba Interface Engineering, Inc., Consulting Engineers

Rocket

Refrigeration Solutions, LL

Rocket

D2Solar LLC

Rocket

Sun Light and Power

Rocket

Betzabeth Santana

Rocket

Daniel Kildahl

Rocket

RETC LLC

Rocket

Taylor Design

Rocket

AO Structures

Rocket

David Beard

Rocket

Fleetwash

Rocket

Richards Air Tech

Rocket

Tom Morello

Rocket

Redding Crane

Rocket

Climate Pros

Rocket

Gabe Hebert

Rocket

Jesse Sekhon

Rocket

Trout Mechanical

Rocket

West Coast Crane

Rocket

Copeland Cold Chain

Rocket

aerial equipment rental

Rocket

Match Partners

Rocket

Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.

Rocket

SkyCool Systems Inc.

Rocket

Contact the Team

*Required