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Pennsylvania firm to recover energy from braking trains

Smart grid company Viridity Energy has been given a $900,000 grant for a project in Philadelphia, seeking to recover energy from trains as they slow down.

It is to receive funding from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the sixth largest public transit organization in the US.

The pilot project will make use of Viridity’s software optimization system to recycle energy from the regenerative braking of trains and trolleys.

Usually as moving vehicles brake, their kinetic energy is wasted as heat in the brakes, but new technology can capture some of that lost energy for conversion to electricity.

Working with one of the country’s oldest transportation systems – dating back to 1892 – the SEPTA project will recover energy at a high-use propulsion substation on the Market-Frankford Line, for storage in a large-scale battery.

Viridity, which has its head office in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, said its pilot could unlock a “large and untapped potential” for transit systems to help cut their energy costs and improve grid reliability in densely-populated urban areas.

Benefits

Audrey Zibelman, President and CEO of Viridity Energy, said: “This project is a perfect example of how smart grid innovations and advances in technology can effectively be paired with revenue opportunities from competitive energy markets to yield substantial economic, operational and environmental benefits to all the parties involved.”

SEPTA is expecting the pilot project to generate around $500,000 in revenue. If successful, the project could pave the way for a deployment of similar systems in all 38 of the transit authority’s substations.

Joseph M. Casey, General Manager for SEPTA, said: “The storage system will serve as a foundation for measurable gains in both energy efficiency and voltage stability in this critical corridor, providing a replicable and scalable model for broader system-wide implementation.”

Viridity Energy was founded in 2008 by former executives of PJM Interconnection.