Beacon Power Awarded $5 Million State Grant For Flywheel Plant in Pennsylvania
10 August 2011 - 2:30PM
Beacon Power Corporation (Nasdaq:BCON), a leading provider of
fast-response energy storage systems and services to support a more
stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid, announced that it
has been awarded a $5-million state grant toward construction of a
20-megawatt flywheel energy storage plant in Hazle Township,
Pennsylvania. The Company received formal notice of the
Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant award from the
office of Governor Tom Corbett.
"This is remarkable new technology that will help lower the cost
of electricity in the long run," said U.S. Representative Lou
Barletta (PA-11). "Storing energy and putting it back into the grid
when it's needed could be a game-changer as we try to reduce the
cost of energy. Additionally, projects like this will bring
significant economic, environmental, and efficiency benefits to
Pennsylvania's power grid. It will also create new jobs and boost
the local economy."
"We're very pleased to receive news of this $5-million grant
commitment for our next 20 megawatt energy storage plant," said
Bill Capp, Beacon Power president and CEO. "We're grateful for the
collaborative, bipartisan effort that helped finalize this grant,
especially to Governor Corbett, Congressman Barletta, State Senator
John Yudichak, State Representative Tarah Toohil, the Pennsylvania
Public Utility Commission, and Bernadette DeBias and Joseph
Lettiere of CAN DO, Inc. We look forward to the start of
construction later this year."
"This project presents many great opportunities for this
region," said Senator Yudichak. "Not only does it enhance clean
energy efforts in the state, it provides a significant economic
boost to the area with the potential creation of 57 new jobs. I am
very pleased to announce this funding; I believe it will
significantly assist with the economic recovery of this
community."
"The goal of the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program
funding is to provide long-term investment in businesses that will
ultimately help boost the economy and produce more employment
opportunities," said Representative Toohil. "I look forward to the
immediate construction jobs that will be created as this project
begins."
Beacon's energy storage plant will provide an essential
grid-stabilizing service known as frequency regulation by
effectively "recycling" electricity to balance its supply and
demand on a moment-to-moment basis. Unlike conventional fossil-fuel
generators that are typically used to provide this service,
Beacon's flywheel technology consumes no fuel, produces zero
emissions of any kind, and can perform faster and more
cost-effectively.
In addition to the $5 million state grant, the $53-million Hazle
Township plant was also awarded a $24-million Smart Grid stimulus
grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Beacon Power recently
completed construction and is now operating its first 20 MW
flywheel frequency regulation plant in Stephentown, New York.
About Beacon Power Corporation
Beacon Power Corporation designs, develops and is
commercializing advanced products and services to support stable,
reliable and efficient electricity grid operation. Beacon's Smart
Energy MatrixTM, now in production, being operated and earning
revenue in Massachusetts and New York, is a non-polluting,
megawatt-scale, fast-response flywheel-based solution designed to
provide less expensive, more sustainable and effective frequency
regulation services to the nation's power grid. The Company's
business strategy is both to supply frequency regulation services
from its own plants and to sell systems directly to utilities or
grid operators in parts of North America and selected international
markets. Beacon is a publicly traded company with its research,
development and manufacturing facility in the U.S. For more
information, visit http://www.beaconpower.com.
Safe Harbor Statements under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The 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; 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 able to comply with the
conditions or ongoing covenants of the Federal Financing Bank loan
for our Stephentown, New York, facility; our need to comply with
any disbursement or other conditions under the DOE Smart Grid grant
program; a need to raise additional equity to fund Beacon's
projects and our other operations in uncertain financial markets;
conditions in target markets, such as that some ISOs are taking
longer than others to comply with FERC's requirement to update
market rules to include new technology such as ours, and also such
as that frequency regulation pricing is lower in the short-term
than at many times in the past; 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; 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 current
conditions 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.
CONTACT: Investor Relations Contact:
Chris Witty
Darrow Associates
646-438-9385
cwitty@darrowir.com
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