A123 leverages its patented Nanophosphate™ technology to deliver high-power solutions for grid stabilization with a high power to energy ratio.  The Hybrid Ancillary Power Unit (Hybrid-APU™) can be rapidly deployed worldwide to hybridize a power plant and provide Frequency Regulation and Synchronous Reserve (Spinning Reserve or Standby Reserve Capacity) services. Frequency regulation, a nearly net zero energy service, and Synchronous Reserve, an emergency contingency capacity provision, are traditionally provided by power plants which keep a portion of their capacity on reserve for these purposes.

The response time of the Hybrid-APU is superior to how the grid operates today. The Hybrid-APU can respond in milliseconds compared to power plants which can take minutes to respond to a call to vary their power output. Using a Hybrid-APU frees up plant capacity reserves that are typically set aside for ancillary services, to enable the utility to focus on the primary function of baseload electricity generation.

Power plants using A123Systems' Hybrid-APU can benefit from:

• lower maintenance and capital costs
• higher utilized generating capacity
• longer life
• greater efficiency (heat rates)
• lower emissions

Power plants run most efficiently and emit less pollution when run at a constant optimized power output, not when the power output rapidly ramps in response to short-term variation in power demand. Operating this way is inefficient not only because it is hard on the machinery, but it also consumes more fuel per given unit of power output. Independent third party studies have shown that using high-efficiency energy storage systems, such as the Hybrid-APU, for frequency regulation can reduce the associated emissions of CO2, SO2, and NOx by as much as 80% over traditional power plant ancillary services.