Flywheels could be the answer to green energy storage in the future

A unique energy storing plant in New York will show up soon enough, using flywheels to save up all the extra power. Beacon Power, based in Massachusetts, states that the plant will help buffer 20 megawatts of power on the grid. Earlier technology helped provide just a single megawatt of power. Well if you don’t really know what flywheels are, these are devices that help store electricity as kinetic energy, dispensing it back to the grid in quick bursts and can store energy generated from renewable energy sources which at times are fickle minded. Hooking up solar and wind power to a system like this could help create a renewable-energy grid after all! Using electricity to accelerate a carbon-fiber rotor inside a vacuum, flywheels help provide that extra burst of energy needed sometimes while demand is at peak.

Extra energy generated can also be sent back to the flywheel for storage, helping the grid stay balanced, with just the right amount of electricity flowing through power lines. 63% of the costs will be carried on by the $43 million loan guarantee contributed by the Department of Energy. Indeed a green and applaud deserving development.
[popsci]