December 11, 2008 2:45 PM PST
BlackLight Power, a company that claims to draw energy from a disputed form of hydrogen, said on Thursday that it has licensed its technology to a customer.
New Jersey-based BlackLight Power said a subsidiary of a small New Mexico utility, Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative, has licensed its technology and the rights to buy its heat-generating equipment.
The company's claims have caused controversy because they challenge long-held notions in physics. It's an example of how the surge in interest in energy technology has revived older technologies, like solar thermal, and inspired scientists to develop disruptive technologies.
It's not easy for an outsider to assess the merits of the company's technology, but it appears BlackLight Power is being taken seriously by some people.
BlackLight Power has raised $60 million in funding and the company is in discussions with utilities to use its equipment, according to CEO and founder Randell Mills said. It employs 25 people, about half of which are PhDs. Its process has been peer-reviewed, Mills said, and the company has created a prototype 5 kilowatt machine.
Mills said that the he has found a way to alter the state of stable hydrogen atoms in a new form, called hydrinos, and tap into the energy released during that change.
The company has developed a reactor that uses a solid fuel--a form of nickel called Raney nickel--that starts a chemical reaction that brings a hydrogen's electron closer its nucleus, releasing energy, he explained.
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