New York State Passes Law to Support Faster Deployment of Flywheel-Based Energy Storage Plants
TYNGSBORO, Mass., Jul 26, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) --
Beacon Power Corporation (Nasdaq:BCON), a leading provider of advanced energy storage products and services to support a more stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid, is a direct beneficiary of a newly passed law in New York State that specifically exempts flywheel-based energy storage facilities of less than 80 megawatts (MW) from New York Public Service Commission (PSC) jurisdiction. Governor David A. Paterson signed the legislation into law on July 21, 2010.
"This law will benefit the people of New York by reducing unnecessary regulation on certain merchant-built energy storage facilities, thereby accelerating their deployment," said Judith Judson, Beacon Power Vice President of Asset Management and Market Development. "State lawmakers as well as the Public Service Commission, which supported this legislation, recognize the advantages of bringing clean, grid-stabilizing energy technologies like Beacon's to New York. Their actions will help speed the construction of future flywheel-based energy storage facilities, such as the 20 MW frequency regulation plant we're now developing in Glenville."
Beacon Power is currently building the world's first 20 MW flywheel-based energy storage plant in Stephentown, New York, which will provide the state with an essential grid-stabilizing service known as frequency regulation. All 20 MW of the Stephentown plant are on schedule to be completed by the end March 2011, with 4 MW operational before the end of this year. More information and updates on the plant's progress are available at www.beaconpower.com.
The law is based on New York's energy storage DPS departmental bill (S.7145 Aubertine/A.10216 Cahill), which added kinetic energy storage devices -- specifically flywheels and compressed air storage -- to the alternative energy production facility definition, thereby exempting those projects of less than 80 MW capacity from the state's PSC jurisdiction. Prior to this new statute, Beacon was required to apply for (and had obtained) PSC approval via a certificate of public convenience and necessity, or CPCN, for the Stephentown facility. The new exemption is expected to relieve Beacon from the regulatory burden of having to provide the PSC with periodic updates or obtain PSC approval of facility documents for its Stephentown regulation plant. It will also eliminate entirely the need for Beacon to apply for additional CPCNs, as would otherwise have been required for its planned Glenville, New York, regulation plant, currently being developed.
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 Matrix(TM), now in production, being operated and earning revenue, is a non-polluting, megawatt-scale, utility-grade, 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 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 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; our need to comply with any disbursement or other conditions under the DOE grant program; a need to raise additional equity to fund Beacon's projects and its other operations in uncertain financial markets; conditions in target markets, including the fact that it has taken longer than anticipated for some ISOs 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; 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.
This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com
SOURCE: Beacon Power Corporation
CONTACT: Darrow Associates
Investor Relations Contact:
Chris Witty
646-438-9385
cwitty@darrowir.com
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