GE Funds Smart Grid Storage Company

New Hampshire-based company Sustain received $14.4 million from GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of GE, and other investors to continue developing its technology for energy storage using compressed air.

Through the GE Ecomagination Challenges Powering the Grid program, in which SustainX is a partner, GE Energy Financial Services joins Cadent Energy Partners and prior investors Polaris Ventures and Rockport Capital in the new round of venture financing.

The GE Ecomagination Challenge demonstrates GEs global commitment to accelerate the development and deployment of innovative power-grid technologies through open collaboration, while providing financial support to develop and commercialize innovative technologies.

Details of the financing were not disclosed. A total of $5.4 million in earlier financing for SustainX came from the Small Business Innovation Research program of the National Science Foundation and from the Energy Storage Program of the US Department of Energy. AES Energy Storage, LLC is working with SustainX to demonstrate a full-size system in the field, capable of storing enough energy to power 1,000 typical US homes.

The present round of funding for SustainX represents the first time that both GE and Cadent Energy Partners have invested in the company.