A review of flywheel energy storage systems: state of the art and opportunities

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advancements in flywheel energy storage systems, highlighting their advantages, current applications, design approaches, and future opportunities in grid and renewable energy sectors.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of recent FESS technologies, focusing on design choices, performance, costs, and future development directions.

Findings

FESS offers long life cycles and high power density.

Recent deployments are mainly in utility and renewable sectors.

Opportunities exist for technological improvements and broader applications.

Abstract

Thanks to the unique advantages such as long life cycles, high power density, minimal environmental impact, and high power quality such as fast response and voltage stability, the flywheel/kinetic energy storage system (FESS) is gaining attention recently. There is noticeable progress made in FESS, especially in utility, large-scale deployment for the electrical grid, and renewable energy applications. This paper gives a review of the recent developments in FESS technologies. Due to the highly interdisciplinary nature of FESSs, we survey different design approaches, choices of subsystems, and the effects on performance, cost, and applications. This review focuses on the state of the art of FESS technologies, especially for those who have been commissioned or prototyped. We also highlighted the opportunities and potential directions for the future development of FESS technologies.