Beacon Power, LLC is an American limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of RGA Investments LLC. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, it specializes in flywheel-based energy storage. Beacon designs and develops products aimed at utility frequency regulation for power grid operations.

Beacon Power, LLC
Company typeSubsidiary
OTC Pink No Information: BCONQ
IndustryFlywheel energy storage, utility frequency
PredecessorBeacon Power Inc.[1]
Founded1997; 27 years ago (1997)
Headquarters,
U.S.
Area served
New York, United States
RevenueUS$900 thousand (2010)[2]
US$-21,340 thousand (2010)[2]
US$-22,680 thousand (2010)[2]
Total assetsUS$11,940 thousand (2010)[3]
Total equityUS$28,630 thousand (2010)[3]
ParentRGA Investments, LLC
Websitebeaconpower.com

The storage systems are designed to help utilities match supply with varying demand by storing excess power in arrays of 2,800-pound (1,300 kg) flywheels at off-peak times for use during peak demand.[4]

History

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Beacon Power was founded in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1997 as a subsidiary of SatCon Technology Corporation, a maker of alternative energy management systems. The company went public in 2000.[5][6][7] In June 2008, Beacon Power opened new headquarters in Tyngsboro, with financing from Massachusetts state agencies.[4]

In 2009 Beacon received a loan guarantee from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for $43 million to build a 20-megawatt flywheel power plant in Stephentown, New York.[8][9] The DOE loan for $43 million was awarded in 2010, with the plant to be online by 2011. It also was awarded $24 million from the DOE for a second flywheel plant.[10]

On 30 October 2011, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under in the United States bankruptcy court in Delaware.[11][12] As part of the bankruptcy court proceedings, Beacon Power agreed on November 18 to sell its Stephentown facility to repay the DOE loan.

As of 6 February 2012, Rockland Capital, a private equity firm, bought the plant and most of the company's other assets for $30.5 million.[13] Rockland Capital stated it intended to rehire most of staff and to provide the capital to build a second 20MW plant in Pennsylvania.[14]

On May 1, 2018, the investment arm of RGA Labs acquired the company.[15] The physical assets, the 20 MW NY Facility named Stephentown Spindle and the 20 MW facility[16] in Hazle Township PA were sold to Convergent Energy and Power in 2018.[17][18]

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ "Beacon Power Company History". Archived from the original on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  2. ^ a b c "Bloomberg- Income Statement for Beacon Power Inc". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  3. ^ a b "Bloomberg- Balance Sheet for Beacon Power Inc". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  4. ^ a b Peter Howe (June 13, 2008). "Beacon Power puts new spin on clean energy Archived September 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine", New England Cable News. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  5. ^ "SatCon sells off two units for $5.6M Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine", Mass High Tech (September 29, 2008).
  6. ^ "Beacon Power's Affiliate, SatCon Technology Corporation, to Distribute Five Million Beacon Power Shares" (Press release). SatCon Technology Corporation. September 13, 2001.
  7. ^ Steven Syre (August 14, 2003). "Brownout at energy firms", The Boston Globe.
  8. ^ Fact Sheet: The Department of Energy's Loan Programs, March 5, 2010, archived from the original on 2010-05-27
  9. ^ Beacon Power, Nordic Windpower Get $59M DOE Loan Guarantees, July 2, 2009
  10. ^ Ricketts, Camille. DOE Charges Up Flywheels, Finalizes $43M Loan to Beacon Power, VentureBeat, The New York Times, August 10, 2010.
  11. ^ Beacon Power, Backed by U.S. Loan Guarantees, Files Bankruptcy, October 31, 2011, archived from the original on November 2, 2011
  12. ^ Milford, Phil (December 27, 2011). "Beacon Power Wins Judge's Approval for Auction Procedures". Bloomberg.
  13. ^ "UPDATE 1-Beacon Power finds buyer, Energy Dept sees return". Reuters. February 6, 2012. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  14. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2012-03-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ RGA Investments, LLC Acquires Beacon Power, LLC
  16. ^ "20 MW Flywheel Energy Storage Plant Hazle Spindle -Hazle Township". academia.edu. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  17. ^ Convergent Energy and Power https://www.convergentep.com/
  18. ^ "Convergent buys up 40MW of flywheels in New York and Pennsylvania". 8 May 2018.

Further reading

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