Vycon, has announced that Austin Energy has chosen to protect its new Control Center with clean backup power from VYCON. With 400,000 customers and a population of almost one million, Austin Energy has one of the nation’s most comprehensive residential and commercial energy-efficiency programs. The 190,000-sq-ft Control Center operates the utility’s data center and operates the utility’s grid including the switching of utility grid quadrants. Vycon’s environmentally friendly VDC-XE flywheel systems—totaling 4.8 megawatts —will protect the Control Center  from storms and /or other events that may compromise electrical power.

Instead of using traditional battery-based uninterruptible power systems (UPSs) for its new center, Austin Energy chose flywheels in order to increase power backup reliability. Seeking a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver rating for the new center, the flywheels offer a clean, environmentally friendly alternative to toxic lead-acid batteries. By removing UPS batteries from the power infrastructure, downtime, frequent battery maintenance, replacement, and expensive cooling of the batteries have been eliminated for the next 20 years—the rated lifetime of the flywheels.

“Flywheel UPSs are rapidly becoming the defacto choice for power protection when reliability is the key concern,” said Dann McKeraghan, sales and marketing vice president for Vycon. “This, coupled with their environmental advantages, and you have a win-win value proposition. We’re pleased that our VDC-XE flywheel systems met Austin Energy’s power protection requirements and sustainability/green initiatives for the utility’s critical Control Center.”

Vycon’s VDC-XE (Xtended Energy) supplies up to 300kW of DC power within a single cabinet. For longer run times and higher power capacities, the UL listed VDC models can be easily paralleled without special communications links or control systems for supporting megawatt load applications. For extended power outages, the VDC will provide ride-through protection to seamlessly transfer to a standby engine generator and provide continuous uninterrupted power.

Tested and compatible with all major brands of three-phase UPS systems and available from Vycon’s global channel partners, the VDC units feature a 20-yr life and minimal maintenance requirements. Featuring optimized power electronics for significantly improved power density, the energy storage systems replace traditional lead-acid backup batteries used with UPS systems—providing users with a smarter and greener approach to power protection.

Providing clean ride-through backup power that is fast, predictable and seamless, Vycon’s flywheels offer a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) than traditional battery-reliant UPS systems offering reliable and environmentally friendly on-demand power.

January 2012 marks the milestone of 500 Vycon flywheel systems shipped, representing a record 7.5 million discharge and recharge cycles over 3.5 million run hours. This is notable as Vycon’s flywheels are often deployed in difficult power environments that call on Vycon’s flywheels to discharge and quickly recharge every two minutes.

For more information on Vycon’s flywheel solutions, visit www.vyconenergy.com or call 714-386-3800. To see Vycon’s flywheels in action visit Vycon’s YouTube Channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/VYCONEnergy.  Follow Vycon on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vyconenergy.