The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a conditional commitment to IceBrick Energy, a subsidiary of Israeli thermal energy storage firm Nostromo Energy, for a loan of up to $305.54 million. Announced on December 9, the loan will support the financing of Project IceBrick, a virtual power plant (VPP) comprising up to 193 cold thermal energy storage (TES) installations across commercial buildings in California.