Feds Pour Millions into Innovative Energy Storage Projects in New York

By Sara Stroud

Managing electrical grids is a delicate balancing act. Behind the scenes, grid operators must ensure that regional grids maintain a consistent frequency — a task that will only grow more complicated with the introduction of new renewable power sources and the rollout of electric vehicles.

That's why energy storage companies and federal and state agencies are working on innovative ways to integrate faster and cleaner frequency regulation for regional power grids. Two such companies, Beacon Power and AES Energy Storage, got a boost from the U.S. Department of Energy this month in the form of more than $60 million in loan guarantees to develop energy storage projects in New York.

Traditionally, grid operators have relied on fossil fuels to provide frequency regulation, directing about one percent of total generation capacity to deal with fluctuations in frequency. The problem with that system is that it's relatively slow and generates carbon emissions.

Beacon Power and AES Energy Storage harness different technologies — flywheels and batteries, respectively — to provide frequency regulation, but both companies say they can increase efficiency while slashing greenhouse gas output.

"In order to maintain the system flowing at regular intervals, which all of our power electronics require, we need frequency regulation service. This offers the opportunity to deliver that ... at dramatically lower cost and much higher performance levels than currently can happen," declared Matt Rogers, a senior adviser to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, on the DOE website.

Flywheels: 'Like a Speed Boat' 

Massachusetts-based Beacon Power's answer to the energy storage problem is flywheels, which are essentially mechanical batteries. Electricity gets stored as kinetic energy in spinning flywheels when power supply exceeds demand, then is quickly delivered back to the grid by slowing down the flywheels' rotation when demand spikes.

Beacon's technology is not a long-term storage solution, rather it is a so-called "second-to-second stabilizing service." But it can ramp up in response to frequency fluctuations 10 times faster than fossil fuel sources, according to the DOE.

"It's like trying to turn a cruise ship," Gene Hunt, a Beacon Power spokesperson, told SolveClimate News, of using fossil fuel sources to respond to demand fluctuations. "[We're] like a speed boat."

Meanwhile, Beacon's flywheels can reduce carbon emissions associated with frequency regulation by about 80 percent over conventional sources, according to the company.

In August, Beacon Power finalized a $43 million DOE loan guarantee, which is slated to go towards a 20-megawatt flywheel energy storage plant already under construction in Stephentown, NY.

Beacon first received conditional approval of the loan for the Stephentown plant more than a year ago, and has also received federal backing for other energy storage projects. In late 2009, Beacon announced that it scored a $24 million DOE grant to build a 20-megawatt plant in Chicago. In July 2010, the company also won $2.25 million to develop its next-generation flywheel from a DOE program designed to fund potentially transformational energy technologies.

Lithium-Ion Batteries at Grid Scale

While Beacon is relying on flywheels, AES Energy Storage's technology uses lithium-ion batteries to store power for quick deployment.