TYNGSBORO, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
Beacon Power Corporation (Nasdaq: BCON), a company that designs and develops
advanced products and services to support more stable, reliable and efficient
electricity grid operation, announced that it will begin construction on the
nation`s first full-scale 20-megawatt (MW) flywheel frequency regulation plant
during the week of November 23rd, at its site in Stephentown, New York.
All state and local construction-related permits and approvals for the plant
have now been received. Beacon will start initial site work while continuing to
progress toward closing a $43-million loan with the Federal Finance Bank, with
the support of the U.S. Department of Energy and a loan guarantee commitment
that Beacon received earlier this year. The loan is intended to support
construction of the plant.
"We`re extremely pleased to be breaking ground on our first 20-megawatt flywheel
plant this month," said Bill Capp, Beacon president and CEO. "Thanks to the
support of a number of agencies, organizations and individuals, including the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy, New York ISO, the
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Public Service
Commission, as well as local officials in Stephentown, we can now move forward
with construction."
A Clean and Innovative Use of Energy Storage
Frequency regulation is an essential grid service that is performed by
maintaining a tight balance between electricity supply and demand. Beacon`s 20
MW plant has been designed to provide frequency regulation services by absorbing
electricity from the grid when there is too much, and storing it as kinetic
energy in a matrix of flywheel systems. When there is not enough power to meet
demand, the flywheels then inject it back into the grid, thus helping maintain
proper electricity frequency (i.e., 60 cycles/second). Thanks to its ability to
recycle electricity efficiently and act like a "shock absorber" to the grid, the
flywheel plant will help also support the integration of greater amounts of
intermittent wind and solar power resources. However, unlike conventional fossil
fuel-powered generators that provide frequency regulation, Beacon`s plant will
not consume any fuel, nor will it directly produce CO2 greenhouse gas emissions
or other air pollutants such as NOX or SO2.
About Beacon Power
Beacon Power Corporation designs, develops and is taking steps to commercialize
advanced products and services to support stable, reliable and efficient
electricity grid operation. The Company`s primary business strategy is to
commercialize its patented flywheel energy storage technology to perform
frequency regulation services on the grid. Beacon`s Smart Energy Matrix, which
is now in production, is a non-polluting, megawatt-level, utility-grade
flywheel-based solution to provide sustainable frequency regulation services.
Beacon is a publicly traded company with its research, development and
manufacturing facility in the U.S. For more information, visit
www.beaconpower.com.
Safe Harbor Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: This Material contained in this press release may include statements that
are not historical facts and are considered "forward-looking" statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements reflect Beacon Power Corporation`s current views
about future events, financial performances, and project development. These
"forward-looking" statements are identified by the use of terms and phrases such
as "will," "believe," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," and similar expressions
identifying forward-looking statements. Investors should not rely on
forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks,
uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from Beacon`s expectation. These factors include: a short operating
history; a history of losses and anticipated continued losses from operations;
uncertainties relating to the success of Beacon`s DOE grant proposals; the
complexity and other challenges of arranging project financing and resources for
one or more frequency regulation power plants, including uncertainty about
whether we will be successful in finalizing the DOE loan guarantee support for
our Stephentown, New York, facility, or complying with the conditions or ongoing
covenants of that support; a need to raise additional equity to fund the project
and Beacon`s other operations in uncertain financial markets; conditions in
target markets, including the fact that some ISOs have been slow to comply with
FERC`s requirement to update market rules to include new technology such as the
Company`s; our ability to obtain site interconnection approvals, landlord
approvals, or other zoning and construction approvals in a timely manner;
limited experience manufacturing commercial products or supplying frequency
regulation services on a commercial basis; limited commercial contracts for
revenues to date; the dependence of revenues on the achievement of product
optimization, manufacturing and commercialization milestones; the uncertainty of
the political and economic climate, and the different electrical grid
characteristics and requirements of any foreign countries into which we hope to
sell or operate, including the uncertainty of enforcing contracts, the different
market structures, and the potential substantial fluctuation in currency
exchange rates in those countries; dependence on third-party suppliers; intense
competition from companies with greater financial resources, especially from
companies that are already in the frequency regulation market; possible
government regulation that would impede the ability to market products or
services or affect market size; possible product liability claims and the
negative publicity which could result; any failure to protect intellectual
property; retaining key executives and the possible need in the future to hire
and retain key executives; the historical volatility of our stock price, as well
as the volatility of the stock price of other companies in the energy sector,
especially in view of the current situation in the financial markets generally.
These factors are elaborated upon and other factors may be disclosed from time
to time in Beacon Power filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Beacon Power expressly does not undertake any duty to update forward-looking
statements.
Beacon Power Corporation
James Spiezio, 978-694-9121
spiezio@beaconpower.com
or
Gene Hunt, 978-661-2825
hunt@beaconpower.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009
