Tyngsboro, Mass.-based Beacon Power Corp., a company that designs and develops advanced products and services to support efficient electricity grid operation, has executed an information sharing and performance evaluation agreement with energy utility company National Grid.
Under the two-year agreement, the companies will share technical, performance and economic data associated with Beacon's flywheel energy storage systems and their potential operational value to National Grid's electricity transmission networks. Objectives of the agreement include National Grid's evaluation of Beacon's flywheel energy storage systems not only for fast-response frequency regulation, but also for wind-related ramp mitigation – another potential large-scale grid stability application.
‘National Grid is committed to assessing new energy technologies and their capacity to help create a more efficient, environmentally responsible and cost-effective modern grid,’ says Stan Blazewicz, vice president and global head of technology for National Grid. ‘The positive attributes of flywheel energy storage – especially its high efficiency, zero carbon emissions and extremely fast response – make it a technology of significant interest and one we are keen to investigate.’
Beacon Power and National Grid will focus on the sharing of technical information and performance results for Beacon's Smart Energy Matrix, the energy storage-based regulation resource that Beacon is now operating under ISO New England's Alternative Technologies Program. The two companies will also be sharing technical information and analysis of the potential economic and performance benefits of fast-response flywheel regulation and wind-related ramp mitigation, in both the U.S. and the U.K.
Under terms of the agreement, Beacon will work with National Grid to forecast future increases in the demand for regulation capacity resulting from greater deployment of wind power. National Grid will also work with Beacon Power to define an optimal control algorithm for Beacon's fast-response energy storage technology that would maximize regulation benefits on the grid.
SOURCE: Beacon Power Corp.