Beacon Power CEO to Speak at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Conference on Frequency Regulation Compensation

Bill Capp to Discuss Pay-for-Performance and Other Regulation Compensation Topics

Beacon Power Corporation (Nasdaq: BCON), a leading provider of advanced energy storage products and services to support a more stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid, today announced that its CEO, Bill Capp, has accepted an invitation from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to participate in a technical conference on compensation for frequency regulation services, taking place on May 26, 2010.

FERC is holding the conference to receive specific input on frequency regulation methods and compensation in the U.S. open-bid electricity markets. FERC has recently approved or is in the process of reviewing market rules and tariffs within different open-bid markets to allow energy storage resources like Beacon’s to participate in the regulation service markets that have been previously open only to generators. As technologies that can offer better performance for frequency regulation are being deployed, such as Beacon’s flywheel systems, FERC is actively considering how their use may improve grid stability. FERC is also examining whether the inherent value of faster and more accurate performance should earn greater compensation than, for example, conventional fossil fuel-based frequency regulation methods.

“I’m pleased to have been invited to participate in FERC’s technical conference,” said Bill Capp, Beacon president and CEO. “I look forward to sharing performance data from our ongoing frequency regulation operation in New England, as well as the benefits we expect from full-scale resources such as the 20-megawatt flywheel plant we’re building in New York, and two others that are in the planning stages. FERC has acknowledged the value of fast-response regulation and expressed the view that greater compensation for such performance may be in order. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to this technical conference based on the experience we’ve gained in operating flywheel energy storage resources in the New England ISO market.”

The FERC technical conference will consist of two sessions. “The Value of Higher-Quality Frequency Regulation Service in Organized Electric Markets,” will explore new energy technologies that have the potential to respond to a regulation dispatch signal faster, and follow it more accurately, than traditional generation resources. “Performance, Compensation, and Market Design,” will look at whether existing pricing mechanisms for frequency regulation service reflect the quality of the service provided, and whether reforms are needed.

The conference will take place in the Commission Meeting Room in Washington, DC, on May 26, 2010, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm ET. More information and the full conference agenda may be found on the FERC website (pdf).

About Beacon Power Corporation
Beacon Power Corporation designs, develops and is commercializing advanced products and services to support stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid operation. Beacon’s Smart Energy Matrix™, now in production, being operated and earning revenue, is a non-polluting, megawatt-scale, utility-grade, flywheel-based solution designed to provide less expensive, more sustainable and effective frequency regulation services to the nation’s power grid. The Company’s business strategy is both to supply frequency regulation services from its own plants and to sell systems directly to utilities or grid operators in parts of North America and selected international markets. Beacon is a publicly traded company with its research, development and manufacturing facility in the U.S.

Safe Harbor Statements
Safe Harbor Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The Material contained in this press release may include statements that are not historical facts and are considered “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect Beacon Power Corporation’s current views about future events, financial performances, and project development. These “forward-looking” statements are identified by the use of terms and phrases such as “will,” “believe,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” and similar expressions identifying forward-looking statements. Investors should not rely on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Beacon’s expectation. These factors include: a short operating history; a history of losses and anticipated continued losses from operations; the complexity and other challenges of arranging project financing and resources for one or more frequency regulation power plants, including uncertainty about whether we will be successful in finalizing the DOE loan guarantee support for our Stephentown, New York, facility, or complying with the conditions or ongoing covenants of that support; our need to comply with any disbursement or other conditions under the DOE grant program; a need to raise additional equity to fund Beacon’s projects and its other operations in uncertain financial markets; conditions in target markets, including the fact that it has taken longer than anticipated for some ISOs to comply with FERC’s requirement to update market rules to include new technology such as the Company’s; our ability to obtain site interconnection approvals, landlord approvals, or other zoning and construction approvals in a timely manner; limited experience manufacturing commercial products or supplying frequency regulation services on a commercial basis; limited commercial contracts for revenues to date; the dependence of revenues on the achievement of product optimization, manufacturing and commercialization milestones; dependence on third-party suppliers; intense competition from companies with greater financial resources, especially from companies that are already in the frequency regulation market; possible government regulation that would impede the ability to market products or services or affect market size; possible product liability claims and the negative publicity which could result; any failure to protect intellectual property; retaining key executives and the possible need in the future to hire and retain key executives; the historical volatility of our stock price, as well as the volatility of the stock price of other companies in the energy sector, especially in view of the current situation in the financial markets generally. These factors are elaborated upon and other factors may be disclosed from time to time in Beacon Power filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Beacon Power expressly does not undertake any duty to update forward-looking statements.

Source: Business Wire/Yahoo Finance