Beacon Power is an American

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

and wholly owned subsidiary of RGA Investments LLC specializing in

flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device which uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy; a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, ass ...

-based

energy storage Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an accumulator or battery. Energy comes in ...

headquartered in

Tyngsboro, Massachusetts Tyngsborough (also spelled Tyngsboro) is a town in northern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Tyngsborough is from Boston along the Route 3 corridor, and located on the New Hampshire state line. At the 2020 census, the town popula ...

. Beacon designs and develops products aimed at

utility frequency The utility frequency, (power) line frequency (American English) or mains frequency (British English) is the nominal frequency of the oscillations of alternating current (AC) in a wide area synchronous grid transmitted from a power station to th ...

regulation for power grid operations. The storage systems are designed to help utilities match supply with varying demand by storing excess power in arrays of flywheels at off-peak times for use during peak demand.Peter Howe (June 13, 2008).
Beacon Power puts new spin on clean energy
", ''

New England Cable News New England Cable News (NECN) is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal (as part of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division, both ultimately owned by Comcast) serving the New England regi ...

''. Retrieved November 7, 2022.

History

Beacon Power was founded in

Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of governme ...

in 1997 as a subsidiary of SatCon Technology Corporation, a maker of alternative energy management systems. The company went public in 2000. In June 2008, Beacon Power opened new headquarters in Tyngsboro, with financing from Massachusetts state agencies. The new facility is intended to support an expansion of the company's operation. In 2009 Beacon received a loan guarantee from the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

(DOE) for $43 million to build a 20-megawatt flywheel power plant in

Stephentown, New York Stephentown is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 2,903 at the 2010 census. The town, which was originally Jericho Hallow in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was renamed for Stephen Van Rensselaer. The town is l ...

. On 30 October 2011, the company filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy protection under in the

United States bankruptcy court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...

in Delaware. 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 In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firm, bought the plant and most of the company's other assets for $30.5 million. Rockland Capital intends to rehire most of staff and to provide the capital to build a second 20MW plant in Pennsylvania. On May 1, 2018, investment arm of RGA Labs acquired the company. The physical assets, the 20 MW NY Facility named Stephentown Spindle an
the 20 MW facility
Hazle Township PA were sold t
Convergent Energy and Power

Notes and references

External links

* {{Official website, http://beaconpower.com/
Reports and White Papers on flywheel-based energy storage systems
Beacon Power
June 2008 newspaper article
Energy companies of the United States Grid energy storage Manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts Companies based in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Energy companies established in 1997 Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011

History

See also

Notes and references

Further reading

External links