Vycon announced April 3 that it has completed delivery of its kinetic energy storage system at the Los Angeles Metro Red Line Westlake/MacArthur Park station.
The equipment will be used in Metro’s Wayside Energy Storage Substation-WESS Project, which is funded by a grant of $4.4 million provided by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) under the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) Program, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Vycon’s Contract has a value of $ 3.6 million for the supply of the main core equipment and the commissioning of the entire system.
The Project will demonstrate how Vycon’s green regenerative technology stores energy generated by braking trains and redistributes that energy to rail lines to accelerating trains. With factory delivery completed, on-site commissioning has begun in March and the system will be in operation in Q2.
In addition to energy recycling, Vycon’s Regen captures the DC train’s power and uses it to reduce peak power demands in the system and provide voltage support where low voltages are critical during operation. These peak power and voltage support capabilities are at their greatest during rush hours when the utility power demands are at a premium price.
This installation is the culmination of nearly five years of dedicated labor and preparation for the project known as the Wayside Energy Storage Substation (WESS).
“We are excited to be at this point of installing our Regen clean energy storage system for this important demonstration project,” said Frank DeLattre, president of Vycon. “The heavy energy cycling demands of commuter and light rail present a great opportunity to validate the value that our highly efficient, kinetic energy storage systems can provide. Transit authorities across the globe are looking at solutions on how to capture braking energy from electric powered trains to regenerate power to gain greater energy efficiencies – resulting in reduced carbon footprint while lowering operating and capital costs.”
