SatCon Technology Corporation(R) of Cambridge., Massachusetts, maker of power and energy management products, introduced a new family of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) at the Los Angeles Power Association Winter Conference on January 31. The product line, produced by SatCon's Ling Electronics Division in Anaheim, California, is designed to provide up to 2.0 megawatts of power during power outages.

The StarSine MegaPower UPS will combine Ling's StarSine power converters and controls with commercially available battery banks or flywheels to provide uninterruptible power during brownouts or blackouts, such as the rolling blackouts that have already affected parts of California. The new line is modular, allowing for a number of UPS power levels that can accommodate a variety of businesses, from hotels and hospitals to offices and manufacturing facilities. The products will be sold, distributed, and serviced by Ling Electronics' worldwide sales and service network.

"Maintaining power during power outages has become a major issue for businesses throughout the world," said David Eisenhaure, SatCon's president and CEO. "Today, everything in the facility is critical - not just the data center. Globally, businesses are becoming more dependent on electricity to manage everything from data processing to automated manufacturing. When the power goes down it's often a disaster."

Initially, SatCon will target the higher-end of the market with its 2.0MW system, designed to be paralleled to provide emergency power for an entire facility until a generator can be started to replace lost utility power. Currently, systems of this size are not readily available.