New Flywheel Technology Nears Commercial Production

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=47130

The California Energy Commission (CEC) recently announced that a 100-kilowatt (kW) scale-power flywheel energy storage system designed to enhance the state's electricity grid is now one step closer to commercialization. The Smart Energy Matrix system recently completed the Critical Project Review -- a significant milestone that assesses the status of research contracts and evaluates the field performance of the flywheel system.

Developed by Beacon Power, the Smart Energy Matrix system is a prototype for the company's planned 20-megawatt (MW)-level commercial system.

"The application of new energy storage technologies is a high priority as California upgrades its electricity grid system. The Energy Commission is pleased at the results of Beacon's testing and the potential for use of this technology in California," said Energy Commissioner John Geesman. "California has made a significant commitment to deploy renewable energy -- placing greater demands on the state's electric grid. Technologies such as Beacon's flywheel-based energy storage system provide attractive options to address these emerging issues."

A flywheel energy storage system draws electrical energy from a primary source, such as the utility grid, and stores it in a high-density rotating flywheel. The flywheel system is actually a kinetic, or mechanical battery, spinning at very high speeds (>20,000 rpm) to store energy that is instantly available when needed.

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[tridim]

1. I've always wondered what effect a giant flywheel would have..

on the Earth's motion around it's own axis and around the Sun. A flywheel big enough to store that much energy is going to produce some major centrifugal force.

[phantom power]

3. Don't lose any sleep. The earth is a much, much, much bigger flywheel.

In fact, I don't have time to type all the "much, much, much..." that would be needed to really convey the reality of it.

[tridim]

5. I'm not losing any sleep, but the Earth also doesn't spin at 20,000 rpm

I'd really like to see the real numbers.

What happens when we have a thousand 1,000ton flywheels spinning at 20,000 rpm concentrated in a single country? The forces could add up fast and could possibly approach the forces that the recent tsunami/seaquake created. Again, I need to see the numbers.

[phantom power]

6. I guarantee you they are insignificant. However, an easy way to keep the system inertial is...

to build them in counter-rotating pairs.

[Nihil]

9. Why was I just reminded of Terry Pratchett's "Thief of Time"?

:-)

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. After all these years & MIT & Caltech 1600 SAT geniuses later

the latest energy breakthrough is the flywheel.


:party:

[phantom power]

4. I can't get Underwriters Labs to certify my neutronium/antineutronium storage device.

They lost containment in only a few cases. Not any worse than the lithium-ion batteries, except for some localized spacetime distortion and the gamma ray damage.

[skids]

8. Hey, at least it's megnetically levitated carbon fiber flywheels.

Give them SOME credit for innovation. :-)

[damntexdem]

7. Why are flywheels needed?

Can't those bugs just walk when they're not buzzing around? ;-)

But, yeah, efficient energy-storage devices will be important if we are to survive as an industrial civilization in an environment capable of sustaining us.