The demand for renewable energy is growing, and with it is the need for sustainable energy storage that can keep up with demand, without draining more from the environment than it benefits. The best result for this is by looking back to the past to help save the future: flywheels. Once used in the Industrial Revolution to power factory machinery, flywheels now make up the most sustainable option available for storing renewable energy for when it is needed, using the latest technologies to increase efficiency. As renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are not reliable 100% of the time, we need to use systems such as Flywheel Energy Storage to harness as much energy from these renewable sources when we can and store it for when it is needed.
What is Flywheel Energy Storage?
A flywheel is essentially a mechanical battery, with a dual-function electric motor, which means it can both generate and store energy. The motor acts as a generator, spinning the wheel using electricity, while the kinetic energy built up because of this motion can be stored inside the wheel for use when needed. The wheels are built so that they are optimized to move as fast and smoothly as possible, allowing for more energy generation and storage. The physical forces and resistance of the materials used to make the parts of the flywheel create resistance which limits how much energy can be stored, however spinning the wheel faster to compensate for this would cause the wheel to break. Each flywheel energy store is kept in a vacuum to reduce drag, while magnetic bearings help to reduce friction damage. The bearings are also used to support the motor, and to keep motor and wheel in position, while allowing the wheel to spin faster than it could without them. The flywheels used in these technologies spin at 100,000 RPM (Revolutions Per Minute), making them both high density and highly efficient which results in more energy stored.
Why is Flywheel Energy Storage the Future of Energy Storage?
There are many reasons why Flywheel Energy Storage Systems, also referred to as FESS, are the best option that we have for storing renewable energy going forward.
The most important of these is that Flywheel Energy Storage is the most sustainable of the current energy storage options, made from materials that are fully recyclable and do not contain any chemicals hazardous to the environment that they are designed to help protect. While alternatives such as lithium batteries or flow batteries are much cheaper to produce, Flywheel Energy Storage has a higher capacity for how much energy it can hold and are more efficient than other mechanical solutions such as the use of hydropower. They have 95% efficiency overall, while the use of magnetic bearings to hold and stabilize the wheel means that once constructed, each storage unit has a 30-year lifespan, which far outstrips those of the alternative options available. As the bearings are an alternative to lubricant that is typically used in such mechanisms, the mechanism within each flywheel storage unit requires no maintenance, reducing upkeep costs even further.
As the high-power density of the Flywheel Energy Storage means that it can hold more energy within a smaller space, the wheel can release charge in milliseconds when necessary, responds quickly to frequency changes in energy use, and is already in use stabilizing power grid frequency when needed, and in many Uninterrupted Power Supplies.
Who is Amber Kinetics?
Amber Kinetics is the industry leader paving the way for Flywheel Energy Storage to take over as the leading renewable energy storage on a grid-sized scale, continually developing the technology to make the flywheel system even better. Amber Kinetics holds a storage system in Massachusetts, USA, which stores 116 MWh (MegaWatt hours) of energy at any one time, while further sites in China hold 756 MWh of power. The company strongly believes that it can accelerate clean energy solutions, and all of its employees work towards the goal of solving one of the most complex yet important products they will ever help to make, not only for us but also for generations to come.
Amber Kinetics’ steel M32 model holds 8KWh (Kilowatt hours) of power which can last for 4 hours over 11,000 RPM, while their latest designs and model of flywheel incorporates carbon and fiberglass as core materials to make it as light as possible, as they strive to make flywheels a cheaper and even more attractive solution, while also being even more effective and durable. With all installations of their technology across the globe so far, they have accumulated more than 578,000 hours of run time and are striving to bring more installations of FESS units to more of the world, and as a bigger and bigger resource for power supply and storage on a global scale. Amber Kinetics is continually innovating and developing to improve its products and find new solutions to help combat the climate crisis, while still managing to meet the ever-increasing international demand for electrical power and renewable energy efficiently. Thanks to Amber Kinetics the future of highly efficient and eco-friendly Flywheel Energy Storage has arrived.