A provider of advanced energy storage and smart grid solutions to the electric utility industry, Ice Energy today announced a $24 Million fund in a series C round of capital-raising. Joining the existing investors in this round are TIAA-CREF, Energy Capital Partners, Good Energies, Sail Ventures and Second Avenue Partners.

Ice Energy will use the funds to work on a utility-scale distributed energy storage projects throughout the United States and Canada, including a 53-Megawatt project currently underway with the Southern California Public Power Authority. This is far by the largest of it’s kind today, marking the changing sentiment around energy efficiency on a corporate level.

Ice Energy’s new project aims at using a less expensive, more efficient power to produce and store energy, coping up during peak demands. It’s energy storage technology installed in individual commercial buildings has the potential to permanently shift as much as 40% of peak energy demand to off-peak hours. All in all, this is thousands of megawatts of clean peaking power for utilities. This  source of reliable electric service is sensitive to the environment’s welfare, and has attached a reasonable price tag to itself sensitive to consumers.

This is the first investment made by TIAA-CREF since they’ve been under Green Buikding Technology Partnerships with Good Energies. The company will be unveting more on energy efficient companies and green building technologies alongside Good Energies for commercial building to maximize energy efficiency.

“At TIAA-CREF, we continue to support innovations that improve the viability of alternative energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Cherie Santos-Wuest, director of TIAA-CREF’s Global Social & Community Investments “Advanced energy storage is a crucial part of the new clean energy economy, and Ice Energy’s technology is at the forefront in terms of cost-effectiveness, scalability and reliability.”

Smart grid technology is straddling a unique aspect of green tech and the cloud, reaching into several industries and attracting a number of corporate players and investors.  IBM and its Blade servers are getting more involved on this level, while Sprint seeks smart grid partners to expand its 4G network.  More recently, GE has made an acquisition towards providing improved smart grid technology on a global scale, with the purchase of Opal Software.