The case for flywheel storage in the Philippines
Flywheels never seem to work out for storing more than a few seconds&#x27; power.<p>The pictures here do not show them mounted underground or surrounded by earthen berms, which seems foolishly hazardous.<p>The Philippines could store power much more economically by suspending weights from cable reels on a ship, lowering them to the sea floor to extract power. The key to economical operation is to share a big motor-generator and winch, protected from weather, along a single shaft with a long line of reels and weights coupled via clutches.<p>This is akin to the similar scheme using a mineshaft, but is much more economically viable. Using separate weights, the winch can usefully be of much lower capacity than the mineshaft needs, so available off-the-shelf. The seabed is in many places deeper than common disused mineshafts, and there is plenty of it.