TYNGSBORO, Mass., April 28, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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, today announced that it has received approval from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the terms of its Smart Grid Stimulus Grant program to proceed to the second of three phases of funding for construction of the Company's next 20-megawatt (MW) flywheel energy storage plant, to be located in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania.
In Phase II, Beacon will be allowed to draw up to 95% of the $24-million Smart Grid grant it was awarded by DOE in late 2009. Beacon is currently limited by a Phase I spending cap of 4% of the grant amount. The Phase II funds will be used to pay for project expenses including material and component procurement, equipment manufacturing and installation, and physical plant construction.
The Department of Energy has reviewed all submitted documents relating to Phase II and is now formally incorporating the facility budget into the program plan. After that step is completed, the grant money will be available to reimburse nearly one-half of Beacon's expenditures on the approximately $50-million facility. That final Phase II step by DOE is expected to be complete within six weeks.
"As we approach completion and full commissioning of our 20 MW flywheel plant in Stephentown, New York, we're pleased to reach this milestone for our next facility in Hazle Township," said Bill Capp, Beacon president and CEO. "This project will create jobs and provide an economic boost to the area. We're grateful to all who have helped make this possible - including the Department of Energy, state legislators and officials, the Public Utility Commission, and the PJM Interconnection."
The Company also announced that it has filed a universal registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If and when the shelf registration statement is declared effective, it will permit the Company from time to time to offer and sell up to $100 million of common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, depositary shares, warrants to purchase any such securities, units comprised of any such securities, or any combination thereof in one or more future public offerings.
The registration statement is intended to provide Beacon with the flexibility to raise capital in the future for use in building merchant plants, manufacturing additional flywheel energy storage systems for sale, and funding ongoing operations.
The terms of any offering under the registration statement will be described in a prospectus supplement filed with the SEC at the time of the offering. These securities may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. A copy of the prospectus included in the registration statement may be found under "SEC Filings" in the Investors section of Beacon's website, located at www.beaconpower.com. A copy of the final prospectus and prospectus supplement relating to any offering under the registration statement will also be filed with the SEC and can be obtained, when available, by contacting James M. Spiezio, Chief Financial Officer, Beacon Power Corporation, 65 Middlesex Road, Tyngsboro, Massachusetts 01879.
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, 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 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.