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A low cost, high performance flywheel energy storage system has been developed based on a patented laminated steel rotor which can be contained safely in a relatively light casing.
About
Flywheel energy storage has been available commercially for many years offering very long cycle life and is rugged as compared to batteries. However, cost is too high with the main reason for this being rotor designs which require substantial containment to make them safe. Not only is this containment expensive, it is heavy and typically flywheels need to be put in bunkers. The patented laminated rotor innnovation mitigates this problem such that this high energy storage flywheel can be placed anyway including confined places where Li-Ion is too dangerous due to fire risk.
Key Benefits
The benchmark competitor technology is Li-Ion batteries but it does not compete "head to head" but rather in applications in which high cycles and high C rating (kW/kWh) are required. Current commercial flywheel technology has a power cost similar to Li-Ion so it is cheaper to simply over size a battery and accept regular cell replacement. By reducing CAPEX by a factor of 2-3, the Gyrotricity flywheel technology has a substantially lower lifetime cost, ie lower levelised cost of storage. The laminated steel technology is also fully recyclable as well as lasting over 20 years.
Applications
Local storage for vehicle ultra and super chargers Trackside energy recovery for electrified rail Storage for dockside cranes (rubber tyred gantry cranes) Uniterruptible power supplies Braking energy recovery on vehicles of all sizes Grid stability particularly with wind power