Nov142009
Mass. flywheel firm ramps up
Filed under Alternative energy by david brooks at 9:25 am
Beacon Powen in Tyngsboro, Mass., is developing utility-scale flywheels to act as short-term energy storage for the power grid: When utilities are generating more power than needed (e.g., when it’s sunny or windy, if you’ve got alt-energy facilities) this is used to spin the flywheels, when an extra burst of electricity is needed (e.g., when everybody gets up in the morning and turns on the lights) the spinning flywheels power a generator. (I wrote about them in June 2008.)
They have just announced construction of a 20-megawatt “flywheel frequency regulation plant” in upstate New York. Beacon Power’s flywheels are designed to provide one megawatt of power for 15 minutes. The company’s press release includes:
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.
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.
Of course, ways to store electricity are vital if alternative-energy is going to become a big part of the power supply. Flywheels probably will never be a huge part of that - unlike, say, hydropower dam storage- but their quick response times and relatively low operating cost make them a useful part of the whole.
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