FED FUNDS 20 MW FLYWHEEL

DOE Backs Energy Storage: Beacon Power Scores $43M Loan Guarantee
Josie Garthwaite, July 2, 2009 (Earth2Tech via Reuters)

"A series of setbacks for flywheel energy storage last year made us wonder if the technology was just spinning its wheels. But… the Department of Energy…has awarded a conditional $43 million loan guarantee to Beacon Power to help with construction of a 20 MW flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, N.Y. — the first full-scale commercial deployment of the company’s technology.

"The Obama administration also announced a $16 million guarantee today for Nordic Windpower to build an assembly plant…bringing the number of awards under a much-delayed DOE program to three in the last four months…In late March, cylindrical solar panel maker Solyndra snagged the first guarantee — for a whopping $535 million — to finance a new factory…While Beacon’s guarantee is small relative to the one offered to Solyndra, it could help boost momentum for flywheel tech as well as the company, which has scored a few key deals in recent months after a rocky end to 2008."

click to enlarge

"…Beacon uses large spinning discs contained in a vacuum to keep electricity flowing over the power grid at a steady frequency — basically helping to stabilize the grid and allowing it to run more efficiently. Flywheels, which need little maintenance over their 20-year-plus life span and don’t have some of the toxic chemicals found in many batteries, are sometimes used as backup power for emergency power systems — what’s called uninterrupted power supply, or UPS…"

"Beacon had planned to raise capital and add 4 MW of capacity to a project in Tyngsboro by the end of last year, but announced in November that it would delay fund raising and slow down the expansion…But by February, Beacon landed a $3 million contract with U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command to look at flywheels for shipboard applications, and just a few weeks ago, it scored a $2 million contract with a New York state utility operator to get started on the 20 MW Stephentown project… [T]oday’s loan guarantee will…[provide] 62.5 percent of total financing for the estimated $69 million buildout...

click to enlarge

"…[T]he Stephentown energy storage plant will absorb and discharge energy to the electric grid, making it possible to use more variable renewable energy sources…[E]nergy storage represents a pivotal component of the smart grid, but until recently, it has largely played second fiddle to digital intelligence for the power grid in the eyes of Congress, investors, utilities and entrepreneurs. With one of the first three guarantees from the DOE, it’s getting attention that’s long overdue."