Beacon Power, Nordic Windpower Secure $59M in DOE Funding
Beacon Power and Nordic Windpower have scored financing in the form of loan guarantees from the Department of Energy. They are the second and third companies to land the coveted financing since Energy Secretary Steven Chu relaunched the program, vowing to speed up the review of loan applications.
The loan guarantees, which are not part of the stimulus funding, were created as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and are administered by the Treasury Department.
Tyngsboro, Mass.,-based Beacon Power will get $43 million in loan guarantees and plans to use the money to build a 20-megawatt flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, N.Y., GreenTechMedia reports. The total project is expected to cost $69 million.
Nordic Windpower, a developer of low cost two-blade turbines secured $16 million in loan guarantees to expand a wind turbine assembly factory in Pocatello, Idaho. The Berkeley, Calif., company recently appointed Thomas Carbone as its new CEO. In the past the company has raised venture capital from Goldman Sachs, Impax Asset Management, I2BF Venture Capital and Pulsar Energy Capital.
BrightSource Energy, according to GreenTechMedia, has applied for federal financing to support the construction of two utility-scale solar power plants with 300 megawatts in combined capacity. The developer plans to sell the electric to Pacific Gas and Electric under a long-term power purchase agreement.
