UK installs 40-tonne flywheels to regulate grid frequency
The United Kingdom is installing 40-tonne flywheels to regulate grid frequency. Are they a solution or an expensive patch? Analysis of costs and efficiency.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
40-tonne flywheels: Britain's bet to stabilise the grid and the debate over their usefulness
The United Kingdom has begun installing 40-tonne flywheels, with an efficiency of 90-95%, to regulate the frequency of the electricity grid. Each flywheel can handle 0.5% of the energy generated across Great Britain. The cost per unit is around 30 million euros, with one million a year in maintenance and an estimated lifespan of 25 years. However, the debate over their real effectiveness was not long in coming, especially after Spain's April 28 blackout, which was not caused by frequency problems but by an unmanaged voltage surge.
Solution or patch?
Supporters of the technology point out that flywheels are a simple, effective and scalable solution for integrating renewables, allowing frequency to be controlled in a decentralised way. Moreover, their cost per consumer would be cents per month, according to rough calculations: with 7,000 flywheels to cover 21 million households, the monthly extra cost would be around 70 euros per household, although these figures are disputed. Others argue that the real problem in Spain is not inertia, but the lack of reactive power management, and that synchronous condensers or grid-forming inverters would be more suitable. The ENTSO-E report already noted that even more inertia would not have prevented the collapse.
Inertia already exists: thermal, nuclear and hydro
Part of the analysis holds that thermal, nuclear and hydro power plants already provide inertia naturally thanks to their synchronous generators, which act as mechanical flywheels. Germany has kept turbine-generator sets at closed thermal plants spinning idle to ensure synchronism, at minimal cost. In Spain, by contrast, many thermal plants have been demolished down to the foundations, eliminating that capacity. Flywheels would therefore be a solution to a problem artificially created by the removal of traditional inertia.
The future: batteries and grid-forming
The discussion also points out that batteries with grid-forming inverters can provide similar protection, with greater storage capacity and at a competitive cost. In addition, flywheels specialise in frequency regulation (seconds or minutes), while batteries can offer services from minutes to hours. The open question is whether flywheels will end up being redundant in a system already full of batteries.
The technology is promising, but it must be applied in the right context. While the UK is going down this path, Spain should first solve its voltage management problems and prevent future blackouts. The question nobody quite explains: why 20 flywheels would not have prevented the blackout, but proper reactive power management would.
Related debates in the forum
The United Kingdom has begun installing 40-tonne flywheels, with an efficiency of 90-95%, to regulate the frequency of the electricity grid. Each flywheel can handle 0.5% of the energy generated across Great Britain. The cost per unit is around 30 million euros, with one million a year in maintenance and an estimated lifespan of 25 years. However, the debate over their real effectiveness was not long in coming, especially after Spain's April 28 blackout, which was not caused by frequency problems but by an unmanaged voltage surge.
Solution or patch?
Supporters of the technology point out that flywheels are a simple, effective and scalable solution for integrating renewables, allowing frequency to be controlled in a decentralised way. Moreover, their cost per consumer would be cents per month, according to rough calculations: with 7,000 flywheels to cover 21 million households, the monthly extra cost would be around 70 euros per household, although these figures are disputed. Others argue that the real problem in Spain is not inertia, but the lack of reactive power management, and that synchronous condensers or grid-forming inverters would be more suitable. The ENTSO-E report already noted that even more inertia would not have prevented the collapse.
Inertia already exists: thermal, nuclear and hydro
Part of the analysis holds that thermal, nuclear and hydro power plants already provide inertia naturally thanks to their synchronous generators, which act as mechanical flywheels. Germany has kept turbine-generator sets at closed thermal plants spinning idle to ensure synchronism, at minimal cost. In Spain, by contrast, many thermal plants have been demolished down to the foundations, eliminating that capacity. Flywheels would therefore be a solution to a problem artificially created by the removal of traditional inertia.
The future: batteries and grid-forming
The discussion also points out that batteries with grid-forming inverters can provide similar protection, with greater storage capacity and at a competitive cost. In addition, flywheels specialise in frequency regulation (seconds or minutes), while batteries can offer services from minutes to hours. The open question is whether flywheels will end up being redundant in a system already full of batteries.
The technology is promising, but it must be applied in the right context. While the UK is going down this path, Spain should first solve its voltage management problems and prevent future blackouts. The question nobody quite explains: why 20 flywheels would not have prevented the blackout, but proper reactive power management would.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (34 replies).
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