Upstate New York Project Will Harness Flywheel Power
When finished in 2011, a flat 3½ -acre piece of land with 20 shipping containers on concrete pads in upstate New York won’t hint at the complexity underneath: 200 flywheel storage devices spinning at Mach 2 to retain and release up to 20 MW of energy on a second-to-second basis.
Tyngsboro, Mass.-based Beacon Power is developing this first-of-a-kind energy storage facility in Stephentown, N.Y., one of several energy-storage projects that got a push forward from grants, loan guarantees and tax credits made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. On Aug. 9, the Dept. of Energy approved a $43-million loan guarantee for the $69-million Beacon project. A second 20-MW Beacon Power project, to be built in either Chicago or Pennsylvania, has received a $24-million smart-grid stimulus grant. Beacon also is developing a third flywheel facility in Glenville, N.Y.