Could flywheels be the future of energy storage?

Flywheels, one of the earliest forms of energy storage, could play a significant role in the transformation of the electri-cal power system into one that is fully sustainable yet low cost.

How many flywheel units have been tested?

More than 15 flywheel units have been tested with the fleet accumulating more than 38,000 hours of operating history. Numerous design and manufacturing enhancements emerged from this process. Multiple failure modes were intentionally induced to experimentally confirm the safety of the system design.

What is a flywheel energy storage system?

Fig. 1 has been produced to illustrate the flywheel energy storage system, including its sub-components and the related technologies. A FESS consists of several key components: (1) A rotor/flywheel for storing the kinetic energy. (2) A bearing system to support the ro-tor/flywheel.

What is a flywheel/kinetic energy storage system (fess)?

Thanks to the unique advantages such as long life cycles, high power density, minimal environmental impact, and high power quality such as fast response and voltage stability, the flywheel/kinetic energy storage system (FESS) is gaining attention recently.

Are flywheels viable for utility-scale energy storage?

Flywheels are only viable for utility-scale energy storage when multiple units can be integrated into an array to achieve the necessary storage capacity. Developing hardware, software and a test platform is necessary to successfully demonstrate multi-unit array operation with balanced power and state of charge (SoC).

What is the value of flywheels?

Insummary,flywheels excelinshortdura-tion and high cycle applications, and another measure of value is the cost for a given total energy throughput, virtually unlimited because of a high cycle life.