by David Flint
It was back in December of 2007 that Beacon Power first introduced to Stephentown its plan to build a flywheel based plant to regulate electric frequency on the power grid, to be the first of its kind in the world. Following seven months of extensive deliberations, the Planning Board granted a special permit allowing the plant to be built. It took a bit longer than expected, but on Tuesday, July 12, the company held an inauguration celebrating the completion of the plant now running at its full 20-megawatt capacity.
The plant now provides approximately 10% of New York State’s typical daily demand for regulation services, necessary to keep the flow of electricity on the grid as close as possible to 60 cycles per second. The flywheels do this by absorbing electricity from the grid when there is too much, storing it as kinetic energy and injecting the energy back into the grid when there is not enough power to meet demand. Frequency regulation is typically performed by slower, less efficient fossil fuel burning generators. According to Beacon President and CEO Bill Capp, who presided at the ceremonies and introduced the speakers, flywheel-based energy storage can provide the same service faster and more effectively, with zero fuel consumption and no CO2 emissions. The plant, he said, gets a signal from the grid every six seconds to either add or subtract power, and it accomplishes this task before the next signal is received.
Steven Whitley, President and Code Enforcement Officer of NYISO that operates the grid in New York State, viewed the plant as a very valuable resource. Energy storage systems such as this, he said, are critical to our future and Beacon Power’s leadership in bringing this new technology to New York is greatly appreciated.
Frank Murray, President and Code Enforcement Officer of NYSERDA, recalled that his agency helped to fund early demonstrations of Beacon’s technology. Viewing it as “innovation at its finest,” he called it the type of creativity needed if the State is to accomplish its goal of meeting 45% of its electricity needs by 2015 through a combination of investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Michael Kormos, Senior VP of Operations at the PJM Interconnection, NYISO’s counterpart in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, said they had been doing their own studies and gaining appreciation of flywheel technology not only for its extreme speed but also for its extreme accuracy in load balancing on the grid, unlike the classic fossil fuel units that they have been using.
Brendan McGrath is the CEO of the Gaelectric Group, a wind power development company based in Ireland with interests in the UK and in Montana. He congratulated Beacon Power for its accomplishment in taking a concept on a piece of paper to reality. An innovation constituting an international first, it will have a huge impact on how the energy industry develops, he said. McGrath said his company has been using compressed air storage for their wind farms but have found that a whole spectrum of different elements of energy storage is needed, particularly in very quick and short term storage – immediate to seconds. Beacon’s technology, he said, will bring major savings in this regard. An old Irish saying translates as, “He who isn’t strong, has to be very clever.” McGrath said this applies to small companies like Gaelectric and Beacon Power in a big market. They also have to be supported in endeavors like this in the market because, according to McGrath, “There are plenty of people whose vested interest is not to make this work, because they’ve invested in something else.”
Stephentown Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt, welcoming everyone to the “only Stephentown on earth,” said it was a momentous occasion to see the start of a pretty interesting operation. It wouldn’t have happened, he said, if they hadn’t “gone through the process,” for which he thanked the volunteers on the Planning Board, Highway Superintendent Aldy Goodermote and especially Building Inspector & Code Enforcement Officer Dean Herrick, who followed construction every step of the way and made sure that everything was done as pledged. Eckhardt noted that there had been a good bit of contention in town about the facility and fears about noise, traffic and environmental risks. But the Planning Board brought in engineers and spent many hours reviewing plans and listening to arguments and eventually in cooperation with officials at all levels of government, made it happen in a way that protected the community.
Following the speeches, those attending – about 85 strong – broke up into small groups and were escorted around the plant. One of the 200 flywheels was taken out of commission for the day and the cover of its concrete container removed so that people could see one of the actual flywheels. Guides explained the working of the system, the electronics in their special housings and the connection with the adjacent NYSEG substation. At the end of the tour the groups were invited into the visitor center to see a real time computer display of the plant in operation showing the moment to moment status of the flywheels giving and taking energy to and from the grid.