Polar Works-News

POLAR WORKS, LLC, ANNOUNCES INVESTMENT BY GRI

GRI Funds Portion of Polar Works' Development of New Inlet Air Cooling System Technology to Benefit Gas Turbine Power Generation Industry

(March 16, 2000; Saratoga Springs, NY) -- Polar Works, LLC, announced today that it has received funding from GRI International (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chicago-based GRI) to support Polar Works' development of a desiccant-based inlet air cooling technology for the gas turbine power generation industry. The investment made by GRI will permit Polar Works to further its work in applying advanced refrigeration and desiccant cooling technologies to its inlet air cooling system, which will be introduced in the fourth quarter of this year.

"GRI's investment significantly enhances our ability to bring our revolutionary inlet air cooling system to market," stated Thomas Tillman, President of Polar Works. "Because of our expertise in power generation, rather than refrigeration, we brought a different set of expectations to the challenge of improving gas turbine operations. Our incorporation of novel gas cooling and desiccant cooling technologies into our inlet air cooling system complements GRI's recent strategic cooling efforts. These techniques have been successfully used in demand-side electrical power management programs for several years; we are now integrating these same technologies into supply-side management efforts."

Polar Works' proprietary inlet air cooling technology will provide much greater efficiency and output than previous methods have offered. The company's desiccant-based system, which addresses high latent heat loads, has several advantages that will make it better able to support natural gas-fired power generation in humid climates. The technology will effectively double the cooling capabilities of current inlet cooling systems, at a unit price less than the addition of new power plants. This technology is seen as an increasingly important part of the solution to the diminished summer electrical reserve margins that have caused blackouts and curtailments in several regions of the country during the past three summers.

"GRI invested in Polar Works because the company's technology has the potential to provide efficiency and cost benefits to customers and help balance gas demand," said William Ryan, Ph.D., GRI Team Leader, Space Conditioning & Appliances. "In recent years, GRI has helped re-establish the viability of gas-fueled space cooling for commercial buildings, by developing engine-driven, absorption and desiccant-type units with all major U.S. space-conditioning equipment manufacturers. Polar Works builds on this recent focus, but on a larger scale and with an emphasis on cooling used in power generation itself."

GRI manages a research, development and commercialization program that benefits the entire natural gas industry and its customers, as well as targeted technology development efforts in partnership with individual organizations and consortia. GRI technologies improve the competitiveness of natural gas and provide cost savings and other benefits for natural gas customers.

Established in 1996, Polar Works, LLC, is built on its management's years of experience in the power industry. Polar Works will introduce the Polar Works Inlet Air Cooling System at the Power Gen trade show in Orlando in November 2000. The company's desiccant-based technology will be available for delivery and installation in 2001. More information about the company's new technology and an overview of existing inlet air cooling technologies is available at www.polarworks.com. Polar Works is headquartered in Saratoga Springs, New York, approximately 20 miles north of the Albany-Schenectady area.

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