Los Angeles, February 2, 2012 — Austin Energy has chosen to protect its new control center with flywheel-based backup power from VYCON.

Austin Energy's 190,000-square-foot control center operates the utility's data center and operates the utility's grid including the switching of utility grid quadrants. VYCON's VDC-XE flywheel systems — totaling 4.8 MW — 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 an alternative to 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.

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 transfer to a standby engine generator and provide continuous uninterrupted power.