NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: James Spiezio
Beacon Power Corporation
978-694-9121
spiezio@beaconpower.com
BEACON POWER ANNOUNCES ELECTION OF NEW BOARD MEMBER
Board Adds Veteran Energy Industry Executive Stephen P. Adik,
Former Vice Chairman of NiSource Inc.
WILMINGTON, Mass. - October 14, 2004 -- Beacon Power Corporation (Nasdaq: BCON),
a development stage company that designs, develops, configures and offers for
sale, sustainable energy storage and power conversion systems that provide
highly reliable uninterruptible electric power, today announced that Stephen P.
Adik, a 20-year veteran of the energy industry, has been elected to Beacon's
Board of Directors.
Mr. Adik served as vice chairman at NiSource Inc., (NYSE: NI), a Fortune 500
electric, natural gas and pipeline company, from December 2000 until his
retirement in December 2003. He joined NiSource in 1987 as vice president and
general manager, Corporate Support Group, and later held positions of senior
executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. At NiSource, he
helped grow the company's market capitalization from $600 million to the current
value of approximately $5.6 billion. Before joining the energy industry in 1983,
Mr. Adik also had more than 20 years of operating and financial experience in
the transportation industry.
"I am pleased to join Beacon's board at this important time," said Mr. Adik. "I
am convinced that the company's pioneering flywheel-based energy storage
technology can contribute to ensuring electricity grid reliability, and I look
forward to helping Beacon capitalize on its opportunities within the energy
industry."
Mr. Adik's industry affiliations have included the American Gas Association,
Edison Electric Institute and the Midwest Gas Association. He is currently a
member of the boards of NiSource, Inc., and the Chicago SouthShore and South
Bend Railroad. He was also recently nominated to the board of North Western
Corp, an electric and natural gas company serving Montana, South Dakota and
Nebraska. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Stevens Institute
of Technology, and an MBA degree in finance from Northwestern University.
About Beacon Power Corporation
Beacon Power Corporation designs and develops sustainable energy storage and
power conversion solutions that provide reliable electric power for the
renewable energy, telecommunications, distributed generation and UPS markets.
Beacon's latest product is the Smart Power M5, an "all-in-one" power conversion
system incorporating multiple high-performance components that delivers
instantaneous power in the event of a grid outage. Beacon is also known for its
advanced flywheel-based Smart Energy systems, designed to provide reliable,
environmentally friendly power quality solutions for electric utility
transmission and distribution and other applications.
For more information, please contact James Spiezio, Chief Financial Officer at
Beacon Power Corporation, tel. 978.694.9121; fax 978.694.9127; or
spiezio@beaconpower.com.
Safe Harbor Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995:
Material contained in this press release may include statements that are not
historical facts and are considered "forward-looking" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements reflect Beacon Power Corporation's current views about future events
and financial performances. These forward-looking statements are identified by
the use of terms and phrases such as "believe," "expect," "plan," "anticipate,"
and similar expressions identifying forward-looking statements. Investors should
not rely on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of
risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from Beacon Power Corporation's expectation. These factors
include: a short operating history; a history of losses and anticipated
continued losses from operations; a need to raise additional capital combined
with a questionable ability to do so; conditions in target markets; no
experience manufacturing any product on a commercial basis; the company has only
recently entered into the renewable energy market through its inverter products,
and hence, has only limited experience in this sector; the dependence of sales
on the achievement of product development and commercialization milestones; the
uncertainty of the political and economic climate of any foreign countries into
which Beacon hopes to sell, including the uncertainty of enforcing contracts and
the potential substantial fluctuation in currency exchange rates in those
countries; significant technological challenges to successfully complete product
development; dependence on third-party suppliers; intense competition from
companies with greater financial resources; possible government regulation that
would impede the ability to market products; possible product liability claims
and the negative publicity which could result; any failure to protect
intellectual property; the possible need in the future to hire and retain key
executives; the recent volatility in the stock price of companies operating in
the same sector; the power of controlling shareholders and the limited ability
of others to influence the outcome of matters put to the vote of shareholders.
These factors are elaborated upon and other factors may be disclosed from time
to time in Beacon Power Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Beacon Power Corporation expressly does not undertake any duty to
update forward-looking statements.