Altair wins $1 million utility contract

Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. of Reno said last week it won a $1 million contract for an electrical storage system to be purchased by AES Corp. of Arlington, Va.

The system probably will be delivered to the utility during the fourth quarter, said Alan Gotcher, Altair's president and chief executive officer. It will be manufactured at Altair's plant at Anderson, Ind.

Altair reported last week that it lost $5.4 million on revenues of $3 million in the second quarter. A year earlier, the company lost $3.8 million on revenues of $1.1 million.

Revenues rose largely as a result of the company's sales of batteries to Phoenix Motorcars, a California-based developer of all-electric sport utility trucks.

Altair also is involved with ISE Corp. in development of batteries for all-electric heavy trucks and buses.