Feasibility assessment of a novel ultra-efficient flywheel technology, CamFly, for energy storage applications

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There has been a growing interest in Flywheel Energy Storage Systems (FESS) for various applications. The renewable sources can benefit from FESS to match the supply to demand on a power grid and hence reducing the reliance on gas/oil turbine peak power generation. Furthermore, large industrial uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) can benefit from FESS technologies instead of batteries in order to eliminate the need for containment and disposal of hazardous materials such as lead, toxic gases and electrolytes. However, the main barriers to the growth of FESS market are their relatively high capital and O&M costs.More than a decade first-class research on Flywheel energy storage systems at Cambridge University and more recently at Camvertec Ltd has developed a low-cost and reliable flywheel energy storage technology, CamFly, with attractive performance and promising exploitation prospects. The key aspects of CamFly innovation are its bearing-free and pump-free operation, as well as the low-cost Motor/Generator (MGen) Drive and its associated fractional-size power converter.The FESS market growth will be further strengthen by efficiency and environmental legislation due to be implemented in 2020, which will require energy storage manufacturers to seek improvements in energy efficiency and more eco-friendly technologies. Low-efficient technologies such as Capacitors and Pumped storage, as well as environmentally damaging technologies such as chemical batteries, will be required to be replaced. CamFly technology is ideally placed to take advantage of this market realignment.