The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has signed a $2m contract with Beacon Power, a provider of products and services to support electricity grid operation, to support the company's 20MW flywheel plant in Stephentown, New York.
Under the deal, the NYSERDA will provide backing for the frequency regulation plant in Stephentown including interconnection components to allow the plant to interface with the New York power grid.
Frequency regulation is an essential grid service that is performed by maintaining a tight balance between electricity supply and demand.
The company said that its 20MW 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 inject energy back into the grid, thus helping to maintain proper electricity frequency (60 cycles/second).
Beacon demonstrated how its flywheel technology could respond to grid frequency regulation control signals in New York with a small-scale energy storage project in Amsterdam that was partially funded by NYSERDA in 2006.
The company broke ground at the Stephentown site last year, after the project won approvals by the New York State Public Service Commission, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), and the local planning board.
Bill Capp, president and CEO of Beacon, said: “Starting more than five years ago when we began working together to demonstrate that flywheel energy storage could provide clean, responsive frequency regulation, right up to today’s significant funding agreement for Stephentown, NYSERDA has recognized the efficiency and value that our technology can bring to the state and its electricity users.”
Francis Murray, Jr, president and CEO of NYSERDA, said: “Advanced energy-storage technologies like the one Beacon is incorporating into its plant are essential for New York to achieve substantial reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.
“This Beacon project is a unique initiative that will help protect our environment, strengthen our clean energy economy, and demonstrate New York’s leadership in developing smart grid systems that will increase our energy efficiency.”