This New Underground Energy Storage System Supports Wind And Solar Power

A startup called Qnetic is building a new kind of energy storage using flywheels, an old technology that stores energy by spinning a rotor at very high speed inside a vacuum enclosure. When power is needed, that spinning mass drives a generator to send electricity back to the grid. Qnetic says its system, called Pulsar, can hold energy for up to 12 hours, which puts it in the "long duration" storage category alongside pumped hydropower, the current leader in that space but one limited by the need for water and elevation. Flywheels avoid that problem and, according to Qnetic, cost less over their lifetime than lithium-ion batteries, carry lower fire risk, and rely less on hard-to-source battery materials.

Qnetic plans to manufacture its systems in the US, starting with a factory in California, while it builds a large test facility in China to validate the technology. The company has raised $7.1 million over the past year, including a $5 million funding round and a $2.1 million crowdfunding campaign, and its work has been reviewed by the Electric Power Research Institute and a national energy lab.

This isn't a product homeowners can buy or install. It's grid-scale technology meant to store power from wind and solar farms so utilities have electricity on hand when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing. Over time, that kind of storage could make renewable electricity more reliable and available, which affects the power supply behind the outlet in your wall, even if the flywheel itself sits nowhere near your house.