The method[3]:
- Generate electricity normally.
- Use the electricity to accelerate a flywheel to very high speeds.
- Capture the kinetic energy of the flywheel when needed.
The benefits
- Essentially no maintenance is required.[1]
- The flywheel cannot decay as chemicals in batteries can. While it will eventually spin down due to friction, the timescales of meaningful energy loss are tremendously long.[1]
- Flywheels can operate in environments where chemically-dependent apparatuses (e.g. batteries) can not.[1]
- Flywheels can be spun up and spun down very quickly.[2]
- Efficiencies can be higher than 95%.[3]
- Flywheels have enormous power density, so you can store more energy in the same amount of space. This also means that they can be easily transported in whatever amount(s) is/are necessary.[3]
- Flywheels are incredibly safe, containing no hazardous materials, as batteries do.[3]
- Once flywheels are "discharged", they can be "recharged".
Here's a breakdown of a typical flywheel:
