SatCon and Beacon Power to Collaborate On New 250kW UPS System

    CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & WILMINGTON, Mass.--May 8, 2001--SatCon Technology Corporation(R) , a leader in power and energy management products, and Beacon Power Corporation , a leading manufacturer of flywheel energy storage systems that provide highly reliable, high-quality uninterruptible electric power, today announced that they are collaborating to develop a 250kW UPS (uninterruptible power supply) that they expect to have available in the last quarter of calendar year 2001.
    The 250kW UPS will include a Beacon supplied steel flywheel, SatCon's power conversion electronics, controls and grid interface and a commercially available diesel, natural gas or dual fuel generator. Assembly will be performed at SatCon's manufacturing facilities in Worcester, Massachusetts and Anaheim, California. The objective is to offer a system that can provide high-reliability ride-through power and power quality at a lower cost than the currently available steel flywheel based UPS systems in this range. When electricity is interrupted, the flywheel is designed to provide power for several seconds until the generator is automatically started. The power from the UPS is designed to be synchronized and conditioned to provide seamless transition to the on-site generation at substantially less than a single electrical cycle and then provide continuous power until the utility grid electricity is restored. The system will be marketed and sold through Beacon Power and SatCon's Ling Electronics' worldwide sales and service network as well as Ling's existing manufacturing representatives.
    "We believe there is a growing market for these kinds of systems," said David Eisenhaure, SatCon's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We see the problems some places are having with power reliability and, in today's economy, businesses just can't afford to be without power. We think there are customers today, like Ling's existing customer base, manufacturing plants, fabrication plants, communications nodes, financial services providers and hospitals, among others, who need a compact, reliable, long-life, near-term available solution to offset line faults and failures. We also have a scaled up product offering in the 2.0MW range that will handle large facility loads for which Beacon will also be providing steel flywheels and we think, given the market opportunity and our relationship with Beacon, that this will be a natural product offering for us."
    In addition the new product announcement, Beacon Power and SatCon Technology have entered into a long-term supplier and marketing cooperation agreement. Under the agreement, SatCon agrees to give Beacon the opportunity to bid on flywheel and flywheel components for use in SatCon's StarSine(TM) MegaPower(TM) UPS systems. Beacon, in turn, agrees to give SatCon the opportunity to bid on electronics, motors and related electronic and motor assemblies for use in Beacon's flywheel energy storage systems. The companies agree to purchase those bids that meet the terms of the agreement, the required specifications, price, quality of deliverables and delivery terms.
    "Having Beacon Power as both a supplier and customer will be beneficial to us," continued Eisenhaure. "We believe we can provide each other with quality products and take advantage of other opportunities for us to market and sell each other's products into new applications in the digital powering marketplace, and to take advantage of Ling Electronics' worldwide sales, distribution and service network through which we currently sell and service digital power products today."
    "We see this as a valuable strategic agreement," said Beacon Power President and Chief Executive Officer, William E. Stanton. "This agreement provides us with the opportunity to access SatCon's worldwide sales and service network. I expect that this will expand the opportunities for both of us to provide power solutions into this growing digital and distributed power market. In addition, we have created a bi-lateral supplier relationship that is in the best interest of both companies."