Tech aims to shine after black-out

A CALIFORNIAN hi-tech energy company is close to floating in London in a bid to take advantage of the recent high-profile scares over the security of electricity supply in London and New York.

Electromechanical Design Associates - founded a decade ago by ex-patriate British boffins - is lining up for a listing on AIM. EDA claims it has cracked 'the Holy Grail' of energy production by being able to store generated electricity over long periods.

The most obvious use of EDA's cerium-zinc battery technology is for businesses. It would enable them to cost-effectively provide uninterruptible power supply when hit by energy blackouts. The ultimate goal of so-called energy storage is to store electricity for release into the National Grid at times of peak usage and peak pricing. Energy storage is also being developed by Regenesys, a British company set up by National Power and now owned by German giant RWE.

'With New York and London going dark in the same month and a growing appreciation that such events will inevitably re-occur, everyone seems to be beating a path to our door,' said EDA president Stephen Clarke, who quit Britain in the brain drain of the 1980s.

Clarke is in London next week to line up a stockbroker for a flotation. It could value the company at up to £25m, and will possibly take place as early as November.

EDA adviser Peter Greensmith, of corporate finance boutique Libertas Capital, said US companies such as EDA are being forced to look to Europe for investment because of President Bush's pro-oil policies. 'In renewables, the US is technology-heavy but investment-light,' he said. 'It's the other way round here.'

Greensmith said the London market should brace for a new bubble if investors jump on the renewable energy bandwagon. 'There could be a rush of other companies coming to market which are little more than concepts or scientists with a business plan,' he said.