TYNGSBORO, Mass., Aug. 10, 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, announced that it has been awarded a $5-million state grant toward construction of a 20-megawatt flywheel energy storage plant in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania. The Company received formal notice of the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant award from the office of Governor Tom Corbett.
"This is remarkable new technology that will help lower the cost of electricity in the long run," said U.S. Representative Lou Barletta (PA-11). "Storing energy and putting it back into the grid when it's needed could be a game-changer as we try to reduce the cost of energy. Additionally, projects like this will bring significant economic, environmental, and efficiency benefits to Pennsylvania's power grid. It will also create new jobs and boost the local economy."
"We're very pleased to receive news of this $5-million grant commitment for our next 20 megawatt energy storage plant," said Bill Capp, Beacon Power president and CEO. "We're grateful for the collaborative, bipartisan effort that helped finalize this grant, especially to Governor Corbett, Congressman Barletta, State Senator John Yudichak, State Representative Tarah Toohil, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and Bernadette DeBias and Joseph Lettiere of CAN DO, Inc. We look forward to the start of construction later this year."
"This project presents many great opportunities for this region," said Senator Yudichak. "Not only does it enhance clean energy efforts in the state, it provides a significant economic boost to the area with the potential creation of 57 new jobs. I am very pleased to announce this funding; I believe it will significantly assist with the economic recovery of this community."
"The goal of the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program funding is to provide long-term investment in businesses that will ultimately help boost the economy and produce more employment opportunities," said Representative Toohil. "I look forward to the immediate construction jobs that will be created as this project begins."
Beacon's energy storage plant will provide an essential grid-stabilizing service known as frequency regulation by effectively "recycling" electricity to balance its supply and demand on a moment-to-moment basis. Unlike conventional fossil-fuel generators that are typically used to provide this service, Beacon's flywheel technology consumes no fuel, produces zero emissions of any kind, and can perform faster and more cost-effectively.
In addition to the $5 million state grant, the $53-million Hazle Township plant was also awarded a $24-million Smart Grid stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Beacon Power recently completed construction and is now operating its first 20 MW flywheel frequency regulation plant in Stephentown, New York.
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 in Massachusetts and New York, 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 http://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.