VLNC: Valence Technology, Inc.(fka VLNCQ)

[finbar99]

These battery farms, and flywheel plants as well, are about to get a big break from FERC who is about to up the rates they get reimbursed at for taking power off the grid and putting it back on. It's not just because solar and wind can be intermittent. There are big issues now with loads on the demand side. The super cheap coal/nuclear plants take 10 to 30 minutes to expand capacity in response to demand surges. The smaller nat gas plants take 2 to 3 minutes to fully respond. The battery and flywheel plants are still really expensive on a relative basis, but they respond within a second. My understanding is that FERC is raising the rates the quick responders get because the grid is FUBAR and more of these are desperately needed for stability. They are only meant to make money in those few minutes of demand/capacity mismatch, but FERC wants to make that window lucrative enough. At this point, I like seeing Wanxiang/a123 winning contracts. Anything that further motivates JCI to make a move on a Valence IP is good with me.