System Safety

Beacon’s flywheels have an excellent safety record. Beacon has over 400 flywheels installed and in commercial operation and has accrued over 7 million operating hours with no significant safety issues or events. Safety starts with the system design, and our flywheel systems include numerous sensors and controls to alert operators when maintenance is needed and/or trigger an automatic controlled shutdown if required.

The Beacon installation process utilizes in-ground concrete foundations to ensure a stable platform to support the high-velocity spinning mass. This also provides an additional layer of system control and safety protection. Each flywheel is installed in a below ground cement foundation so that any issue with a single flywheel is contained and cannot propagate to other units.

The electronics are housed in outdoor rated cabinets that are also modular to prevent the possibility of a cascading event. Except for the flywheel, all equipment on site is typical of any electrical substation and is designed to meet IEEE and NEC standards. Operating procedures, training and maintenance are modeled after proven utility standards.

Additionally, Beacon flywheel storage systems use no harmful chemicals or other hazardous materials in system operations.