Chet Lyons
Director of Marketing and Sales Beacon Power Corporation
Chet Lyons is Director of Marketing and Sales for Beacon Power Corporation. He has over 25 years of experience in the energy industry in areas of technology commercialization, business development, and marketing and sales of energy technologies and services. Before joining Beacon Power, Chet worked for Johnson Controls, Energy Resource Associates, American Superconductor and Evergreen Solar. Technologies he has helped to commercialize include: digital controls; superconducting wire, cable and generators; photovoltaics; and flywheel energy storage. He holds an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Boston University’s Graduate School of Management.
20 Megawatt Flywheel Energy Storage Plant
This presentation will review design principles and progress being made in constructing the world’s first 20 megawatt (MW) flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, NY. The plant is scheduled for partial operation this year and completion in early in 2011. The plant will help balance energy supply and demand on New York’s electrical grid which in turn will help maintain 60 Hz frequency on the grid while facilitating integration of variable wind and solar generating resources. The plant is comprised of 200 high-energy carbon composite flywheels, and will be capable of injecting or withdrawing 20 MWs of power in seconds. It does not burn fuel and produces zero emissions. The plant is being financed with the help of a U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee for $43 million, a $2 million grant from NYSERDA, and capital from Beacon Power Corporation, the manufacturer of the flywheels as well as the owner/operator of the 20 MW plant.