Beacon Power Flywheel Energy Storage Plant Approved for Construction by New York State Public Service Commission

Company Clears State-level Hurdles for Groundbreaking in Stephentown

TYNGSBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Beacon Power Corporation (Nasdaq: BCON) announced that the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has granted the Company a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) for its proposed 20 MW flywheel frequency regulation plant in Stephentown, New York, and approved the project’s overall financing. At its October 15^th meeting, the PSC determined that Beacon’s proposed flywheel plant in Stephentown is in the public’s interest.

“The facility’s flywheels are designed to store excess energy when the generated power supply exceeds demand and conversely deliver it back to the grid when demand exceeds supply. This project will help fully utilize electricity generated from renewable power sources, which is often generated at times when demand is low.”

Last month the PSC affirmed that Beacon’s Stephentown plant had met all relevant PSC environmental requirements. With the PSC’s last two decisions now in place, the Company is authorized to apply for applicable permits, submit any final plans and drawings to PSC for review, and prepare to construct and operate the plant.

“We are excited to be able to support the development of new, state-of-the-art facilities that will help us improve our use of electricity,” said Commission Chairman Garry Brown. “The facility’s flywheels are designed to store excess energy when the generated power supply exceeds demand and conversely deliver it back to the grid when demand exceeds supply. This project will help fully utilize electricity generated from renewable power sources, which is often generated at times when demand is low.”

“This is an important decision for Beacon Power and for electricity users in the state,” said Bill Capp, Beacon president and CEO. “The PSC works to ensure that New Yorkers have access to reliable and low-cost utility services. We believe that their decision to approve the CPCN for the Stephentown plant is recognition of the benefits that flywheel energy storage can bring in improving grid reliability and providing an essential grid service in a clean, low-cost way.”

About Beacon Power

Beacon Power Corporation designs, develops and is taking steps to commercialize advanced products and services to support stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid operation. The Company’s primary business strategy is to commercialize its patented flywheel energy storage technology to perform frequency regulation services on the grid. Beacon’s Smart Energy Matrix, which is now in production, is a non-polluting, megawatt-level, utility-grade flywheel-based solution to provide sustainable frequency regulation services. Beacon is a publicly traded company with its research, development and manufacturing facility in the U.S. For more information, visit www.beaconpower.com.

Safe Harbor Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This 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; uncertainties relating to the success of Beacon’s DOE grant proposals; 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; a need to raise additional equity to fund the project and Beacon’s other operations in uncertain financial markets; conditions in target markets, including the fact that some ISOs have been slow 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; the uncertainty of the political and economic climate, and the different electrical grid characteristics and requirements of any foreign countries into which we hope to sell or operate, including the uncertainty of enforcing contracts, the different market structures, and the potential substantial fluctuation in currency exchange rates in those countries; 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.