Beacon Power Corp.'s Smart Energy 25 flywheel with recent design improvements has achieved the development milestones of full speed operation (16,000 rpm) at full power (100 kW charging and discharging).
The major remaining elements in the test program include performance and component failure testing over the entire speed range as well as qualification of key components from secondary suppliers. The company has moved into the phase in which it will place orders for some long lead-time components, and work to optimize the manufacturing cost of the system. A multiple supplier strategy is planned to minimize costs and insure uninterrupted delivery of components.
"Our goal of having 1 MW of commercial frequency regulation service in place by the end of April 2008, and 10 to 20 MW before the end of 2008, is on track." said Bill Capp, Beacon president and CEO. "We also expect to announce the ISO grid-operating region of our first 10 to 20 MW plant by the end of September."
The Smart Energy 25 is designed to store 25 kWh of energy and to deliver 100 kWof power. The system, designed and manufactured under multiple Beacon patents, is expected to store significantly more energy than any other known commercial flywheel. Its sustainable, long-life design has been optimized to deliver performance that Beacon believes is ideally suited to the frequency regulation services market.
