3 ms·

This could be a cool low cost option. Imaging if a solar panel could spin up a fly wheel which you could then pull power from at night. Cheaper than regular or

This could be a cool low cost option. Imaging if a solar panel could spin up a fly wheel which you could then pull power from at night. Cheaper than regular or expensive lithium batteries, and "unlimited" assuming motors don't wear out. I'd love to see something like this to help power my home. Or maybe have it run on the grid at night during free power times and then pull from during the day.

masklinn 8y ago
> Cheaper than regular FES is currently as expensive or more expensive than battery, and while it could go down faster than batteries that's unlikely considering how old FES tech is. If you want to store lots of power in a flywheel, you need big flywheels spinning very fast without spinning out of control and blowing themselves up (because then all the power they stored remains kinetic but stops being contained). They've got plenty of advantages over battery (inert materials, less affected by temperature variations, potentially infinite lifespan for magnetic bearings in vacuum-sealed enclosures) but safe large-scale flywheels are not cheap. Neither Beacon Power nor Amber Kinetics provide any pricing information on their pages, despite specs in the same range as battery storage: a Powerwall 2 is 13.5kWh/5kW, an Amber Kinetics M32 is 32kWh/8kW. The M32 is also ~4.5 tons. The M32 does have the advantage of an estimated 30 years lifespan, and no health danger outside of the rather immediate effects of a containment breach,
weberc2 8y ago
I'm with you. Given that flywheels are a relatively old tech, I've got to think there's a reason we don't do this. Maybe they require too much space or are too dangerous? I'd like to hear from someone who knows something about the subject.