Almost two years after announcing the project, a Massachusetts company has overcome bankruptcy and has begun construction of an electricity processing plant in Hazle Township.
Beacon Power is building the $53 million facility on a 9.9-acre parcel in the Humboldt Industrial Park North, and has said it could save consumers millions of dollars in electricity costs.
The company first announced plans to build the plant in the spring of 2011, but then filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 30 of that year. Chief Executive Officer F. William Capp said the bankruptcy would allow the company to rebuild its overhead, seek investors and reconcile its loan obligations.
The plant will utilize flywheel energy storage technology that will cost less because it uses less energy to stabilize the electrical grid.
Kevin O'Donnell, president of CAN DO Inc., said the plant will save electricity users money by regulating voltage on transmission lines
"The project is an energy security technology that will provide clean electricity storage within the PJM grid and strengthen grid stability for the manufacturing sector," O'Donnell said.
The plant will use 200 underground flywheels to maintain a stable frequency of 60 cycles per second on the electric grid that serves several states. The plant will serve customers in 13 states and the District of Columbia that belong to the PJM Interconnect.
Gene Hunt, another Beacon official, estimated the flywheel plant will save ratepayers in Pennsylvania alone $3.5 million to $4.5 million annually for 20 years because it can regulate the grid more efficiently than current power producers.
The site in Humboldt is in a Keystone Opportunity Zone and offered Beacon tax advantages that the other site it was considering, in Chicago, did not. Sales taxes and other levies there are forgiven through 2017. Hunt said that will save $2 million to $3 million alone.
Connecting the plant to the electric grid also will be cheaper in Humboldt than in Chicago because the wires carry electricity at a level so transformers don't have to step up power as much as in Chicago where the flow is rated higher.
Beacon will operate the plant remotely with no local employees but building it will employ 60 workers for 18 months, Hunt said.
Joe Lettiere, CAN DO's vice president for marketing, said the organization has been working on the project for a number of years.
"It's a good thing, not only for CAN DO, but pretty interesting technology going forward," he said.
Beacon Power and Hazle Township received a $5 million grant through the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program for the project.
Headquartered in Tyngsboro, Mass., Beacon has a fully operational 20-megawatt plant in Stephentown, N.Y.