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April 1, 2005

Beacon Power Provides Demonstration Energy Storage System

[RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Beacon Power Corporation has been awarded a contract from Bechtel Bettis, to design and deliver an advanced flywheel-based power system demonstration unit. Although this contract is not considered material from a revenue standpoint, according to the company's president and CEO, Bill Capp, these types of projects are significant because they extend Beacon's technology portfolio, which helps to defray operating expenses, and can lead to other business opportunities. Beacon also recently completed a Phase I SBIR contract for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and is awaiting a decision on the associated Phase II proposal. Beacon power also manufactures inverters for the grid connected solar electric market.
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Reader Comments (2)
 
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Anonymous
April 5, 2005
Flywheels are the perfect solution for Distributed Generation; They have the energy stored to react to an inteligient grid. Put a DC motor on one end and an AC generator on the other, hover it on magnetic bearings, and mount it in a tractor trailer inside of a substation of a solar farm. When a cloud passes overhead hte flywheel translates kinetic energy to AC. If storm comes on or as the sun goes down the flywheel gives the grid time to turn up other sources of power.
You go Beacon!
Comment 1 of 2
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Anonymous
April 9, 2005
You're right, the flywheel would be good for the individual plants. For the whole grid, a good mix of gas turbine peaker plants, pumped-storage hydro, flywheels and maybe even batteries, when they get better, would probably be the best. Then, renewables could make up a substantial part of the country's electric supply, without worrying about their variable nature. I don't know if it's feasible to scale up these energy storage methods to the extent necessary, though.
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