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Shift Thermal proposes "thermal battery" test at Oak Ridge City Pool
Summary
Shift Thermal co-founder Mitchell Ishmael pitched a cold thermal energy storage system to the council and city staff, who flagged the City Pool as a feasible test site because of long-running HVAC problems and available space; staff said test costs would be minimal because equipment can be repurposed from other city property.
Mitchell Ishmael, co-founder of Shift Thermal, told Oak Ridge City Council members the company’s cold thermal energy storage system operates like a "thermal battery," making ice during off-peak periods to time-shift cooling for large buildings.
"It's a cold thermal energy storage system," Ishmael said. "Chillers are standard. What we're doing is we're really efficiently making ice for time shifting the cooling.…It's a thermal battery." He added that he has coordinated parts of the operation with TVA's innovation and research group.
City facilities staff described long-running air-conditioning failures at the Oak Ridge City Pool, noting four compressors failed after the system turned acidic and some replacement parts — such as desiccant components and blower motors — can be expensive. "The space of the pool area is probably 10,000 square feet," the staff member said, and the building's concrete pad could accommodate the containment and tank needed for the thermal-storage unit.
Staff and the company described how the storage works: a tank filled with water and a layer of working fluid is chilled below freezing, building a porous ice mass that provides a large surface area for rapid cooling discharge. Ishmael said that configuration, compared with incumbent coil designs, lets the system respond quickly to changing demand from intermittent wind and solar generation.
Councilors asked technical questions about integrating heat and cooling. A council member noted the pool is heated by gas and asked whether the storage system could replace both functions; staff said gas heating remains more energy- and cost-efficient for pool heating, while the thermal-storage approach is aimed at the cooling/dehumidification load.
City officials said they are interested in providing a low-cost test opportunity: equipment could be repurposed from another city building, minimizing upfront costs. No formal agreement was approved during the meeting; staff said they would follow up with details and return to council for any required approvals.
The next step is for staff to develop implementation details and present potential lease, permit, or pilot terms to the council at a future meeting.
