The U.S. Department of Energy announced $59 million in conditional loan guarantees for Nordic Windpower, USA, and Beacon Power (Nasdaq: BCON).
Nordic Windpower has been offered $16 million to support the expansion of its assembly plant in Pocatello, Idaho, to produce its one-megawatt (MW) wind turbine. Beacon Power, an energy storage company, has been offered $43 million to support the construction of its 20-MW flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, New York that will help ensure the reliable delivery of renewable energy to the electricity grid.
These are the second and third conditional commitments for loan guarantees made by the Obama administration. In March, the Department made its first conditional loan guarantee for $535 million to Solyndra, Inc., which plans to construct a manufacturing plant to bring its cutting-edge solar technology to the commercial market.
Nordic’s proprietary 1-MW wind turbine uses two blades and a patented teeter-hub technology that dampens loads, resulting in a lightweight turbine at least 10% less costly to manufacture, install, operate and maintain than competing systems, according to a DOE release.
The Nordic wind turbine represents significantly improved technology which enables the turbine blades to flex at the hub, partially dissipating the eccentric loads, or turbulent winds, before they reach the drive train. This makes Nordic’s turbines more reliable and enables them to achieve structural integrity at a lower cost than more rigid designs.
The teeter hub design also makes it possible to deploy two blades, rather than three. The two blade design reduces installation cost, since the blades can be attached to the hub and nacelle on the ground and lifted into place with one single crane operation.
Beacon Power, an energy storage company headquartered in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, was offered a conditional commitment for $43 million. The loan guarantee will support the construction of Beacon’s 20-MW flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, New York that will help ensure the reliable delivery of renewable energy to the electricity grid. Beacon’s innovative flywheel system, the core component of the 20 megawatt plant, is specifically optimized to perform frequency regulation on utility grids by absorbing and discharging energy to maintain the consistency and reliability of the electric grid.
In January, Beacon Power signed a two-year agreement with the energy utility company National Grid (NYSE: NGG) to study the commercial potential of flywheel energy storage systems.
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