French flywheel storage system specialist secures €10 million investment

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From pv magazine France

Madagascar-based renewable energy company Filatex has agreed to invest €10 million in Energiestro, a French start-up specializing in the development of a storage technology for residential PV based on a flywheel system based on concrete.

Filatex and Energiestro have also signed a partnership agreement to deploy the storage solution in Madagascar and Mauritius, with the aim of pursuing an international development strategy in the renewable energy sector.

The proposed solution consists of a hollow or solid cylinder that is rotated around an axis and connected to an electric motor and generator. The flywheel system is able to store electricity by converting it into kinetic energy using the motor and the flywheel rotates at such a high speed that the electrical power is transformed into mechanical power.

The device is claimed to have a lifetime of one million cycles, good resistance to high temperatures, a carbon footprint of 10g of CO2 per kWh. The flywheel has a diameter of one meter and weighs three tons, and can be placed in the garden of a private house. The system capacity should be increased, initially, to 20 kWh, and then 50 kWh, to eventually reach 24 hours of storage.

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According to French financial newspaper LesEchos, Energiestro will begin production of the storage systems this year and the first products should be tested by French companies EDF, Engie, and Voltalia.

 

 

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