Beacon Power Tests Solar Energy Storage

"Our advanced flywheel-based technology is designed to be a good match for meeting the frequency and voltage stability and power quality demands in grid-interconnected distributed generation environments."

- Bill Capp, Beacon Power President and CEO

Rochester, New York [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Beacon Power is well known for their solar photovoltaic inverters, but perhaps less so for their flywheel-based energy storage devices. A new project in New York will put their energy storage systems to the test as a solution to power grid blackouts.

Connected Energy was awarded a contract from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), to study the feasibility of a communication and control system that would allow remote monitoring and control of a Universal Interconnect Device (UID) for distributed generation (DG) systems. The UID will allow certain onsite generators to continue running in the event of a grid blackout.

By incorporating into the device energy storage technology, such as Beacon Power's flywheel technology, the UID would be capable of storing energy to provide critical additional time during a grid outage, and allow the DG system to separate from the grid and continue operation.

"Our advanced flywheel-based technology is designed to be a good match for meeting the frequency and voltage stability and power quality demands in grid-interconnected distributed generation environments," said Bill Capp, Beacon Power President and CEO.

Connected Energy will partner with Beacon Power Corporation and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) for this project. The three will study communication functionalities that will allow the UID to comply with industry standards like IEEE 1547, the "Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems," and permit the UID to be integrated into control centers operated by public utilities or Control Area operators.

Connected Energy's contract is part of NYSERDA's Program Opportunity Notice 800 solicitation. The program goal is to design, demonstrate and commercialize an advanced DER Communication and Control System capable of seamless integration of large-scale DER installations.

Can anyone explain, briefly, how a flywheel works in the context of a solar system? I understand the basic physics in the case of a hybrid car, but I'm not sure how that would work in a system such as the one described above.

In the context of a solar electrical system, a flywheel energy storage system is used as a substitute for a conventional lead-acid battery. When the photo-voltaic solar cells are generating electricity greater than the amount of electricity being used, the excess can be stored for later. The flywheel energy storage system is an excellent way to preserve this energy for when the clouds roll in or the sun goes down. You can read more here: http://www.beaconpower.com/products/EnergyStorageSystems/flywheels.htm http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.05/flywheel.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=

does the fly wheel refer to a real flywheel like that of a motor car? how big is this flywheel if so? im thinking that for a large city such as new york, you may require a very large flywheel or so many of them in the row... cheers, david