<< Flywheels can serve this purpose – that's the goal of flywheel maker Beacon Power, which has landed Department of Energy loan guarantees to assist its plans to build up to 40 megawatts of frequency regulation storage for grid operators New York Independent System Operator and PJM (see Green Light post).

But Kluza said that lithium-ion batteries are likely to become the technology of choice for such power-oriented storage applications in the coming years.

"The market is ready for it from a government regulation perspective, and it's already in place," he said. "Existing manufacturers can make it at a price that allows an economic return."

Kluza named lithium-ion battery makers A123 Systems and Altair Nanotechnologies as two contenders in that emerging grid storage market. Both companies have delivered battery systems to utility AES Corp., he noted (see A123 Systems Inks Battery Deal With Chrysler).

But A123 could jump ahead of AltairNano if utility Southern California Edison succeeds in securing a DOE stimulus grant that would, among other things, allow it to hire A123 to build a 32-megawatt grid storage battery to help manage wind power (see SoCal Edison Wants A123's Biggest Grid Battery Ever). >>
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