When people think of renewable energy, they tend to envision wind turbines, solar panels, and dams. In other words, they think of those visually impressive devices that capture energy from the environment. Few people, however, think about where all that energy is actually stored.
Yet, without storage, the vast majority of all that captured energy would be wasted. That’s where Amber Kinetics and their flywheel energy storage systems come in.
What is Flywheel Energy Storage Technology?
Flywheel technology has been around for a long time. It began in ancient Mesopotamia, where it was used to power potter wheels to produce threads. In 1883, John A. Howell became the first to employ the technology for energy storage when he used it as a propulsion device in the Howell Mark I torpedo. Modern flywheel energy storage uses the same basic technology as those potter wheels but is significantly souped-up.
A modern high-speed flywheel energy storage system is a mechanical battery. It uses a dual-function motor to spin a mass around an axis and store the resulting kinetic energy for later use. Magnetically levitated bearings act as magnets to support the flywheel’s considerable weight. The system captures the kinetic energy provided by large-scale renewable-energy devices and holds it for efficient industrial or residential use.
Amber Kinetics flywheel energy storage system produces 32 kilowatt-hours of energy in two-ton steel rotors. These technologies aren’t for powering pottery wheels—they’re for powering whole cities.
Advantages Over Chemical Batteries
If the entire purpose of renewable energy is to promote environmental sustainability, then flywheel energy storage has chemical batteries beat all day.
- Amber Kinetics uses 50 percent recycled steel in their flywheels. Plus, decommissioned flywheels are re-purposed or recycled, ensuring nearly zero waste.
- No mining is done in the creation of the flywheels, eliminating the carbon-producing processes required for such an endeavor.
- Chemical batteries require up to 20 different materials that require shipping from different regions around the world.
In addition to the sustainability advantages that flywheels hold over chemical batteries, there are also performance and efficiency benefits:
- Amber Kinetics flywheels are designed with 30-year life spans, including 10-year manufacturer warranties.
- There are limitations to daily cycling.
- Operating and maintenance (O&M) are significantly less.
- Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning are not required.
- Flywheels work with greater than 86 percent round trip efficiency.
- Flywheels operate well in both extreme cold and heat.
- Flywheels are safe and reliable and pose no fire hazard.
As the performance and sustainability advantages of flywheel energy storage become apparent to the world, its use is certain to become more common. The only real competitive advantage that chemical batteries have held is that they have been more widely known of and used in general applications for a long time. Functionally, however, flywheel energy storage technology is superior. The world is just a little slow in figuring that out—but that’s sure to change soon.
Amber Kinetics – The Flywheel Energy Storage Leader
Amber Kinetics was founded in 2008 by Chief Scientist Dr. Seth Sanders and Chief Executive Officer Ed Chiao. Their mission is to “provide an emission-free, economical and safe energy storage solution—creating reliable energy infrastructure around the world.”
By 2022, they have the following achievements to their record:
- Flywheel fleet reached 255,000+ hours of cumulative field of operations globally
- 14 years of experience in designing and deploying the world’s first long-duration flywheel energy storage systems
- Providing 578,000 hours of cumulative flywheel runtime
- Producing 916 megawatt-hours
Amber Kinetics produced the first four-hour discharge, long-duration kinetic energy storage system for commercial use. This is not an easy space for competitors to enter. There’s high overhead, significant infrastructure requirements, and a wide gap in research and development. This is one business where the front runner has significant advantages in simply being the front runner, and Amber Kinetics earned that distinction a long time ago.
Despite its impressive history, Amber Kinetics is just getting warmed up. They have positioned themselves as the industry leader in the flywheel energy storage business.