In the past few years, the world has witnessed a rapid shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to reduce carbon emissions and maintain low prices. While the usage of electricity and renewable energy generation has been on the increase, the quest to invent an alternative to eliminate the problems of solar power and wind power has been at the fore.
This development brought about Amber Kinetics’ propagation of flywheel energy storage. The energy storage alternative has been overlooked over time. Meanwhile, its reinvention is necessary to support renewable energy. With flywheel energy storage, there will be a more stable energy supply.
Flywheel energy storage is made of environmentally friendly materials that can be recycled over and over again without limitations. They can be charged within milliseconds with a longer lifetime of about 20 years compared to other technologies. The energy storage system is highly efficient with a high power density to store more energy in a smaller space.
All these advantages make flywheels’ energy storage a suitable option for several applications as they have also been used as uninterrupted power supplies in industrial and commercial applications to provide power backup for essential loads.
Among other companies trying to bridge the gap between traditional energy generation, renewables and battery-based energy storage, Amber Kinetics is the first in the world with lasting duration flywheel energy storage that is flexible and strong enough to crack this puzzle.
The company has built a solid ground for the usage of its Flywheel energy storage. In 2018, the company partnered with West Boylston Municipal Lighting Plant and commissioned a 128kwh/512 key Flywheel energy storage system in Massachusetts. The project is integrated into a grid-connected solar array, and it has already discharged 116MWh.
Also, the company installed a storage system in China to operate with a 60 MW power plant to store energy and improve grid stability. Important to add, their all-steel M32 Model can provide 8kw power for four hours and achieve an efficiency that is higher than 86%, which offers 11,000 cycles.
In addition, the Amber Kinetics flywheel energy storage is the first commercialized four-hour discharge, long-duration KESS solution powered by advanced technology that stores 32 kWh of energy in a two-ton steel rotor. Individual flywheels can be scaled up to tens or even hundreds of megawatts. Amber Kinetics has engineered a flywheel to meet the energy storage needs of the modern grid—at a lower cost and higher efficiency than gas-peaker plants or pumped hydro.
Amber Kinetics has been able to build the world’s only flywheel innovation hub on the campus of the De La Salle University (DLSU) in the Philippines while they benefit from reduced electricity costs in addition to being an innovation hub. Also, Enel SpA signed a two-year agreement with the company to assess the full-scale implementation of its flywheel energy storage system.
Because of the above, the company has a proven record of providing impeccable performance and flexibility with its flywheel energy storage system.
