Investigation of joint operation of a superconducting kinetic energy storage (flywheel) and solar cells

Superconductors provide unique possibilities for storage of electricity, which is especially important for the reliability of networks supplied by renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy. A system consisting of an HTSbased levitated flywheel as the energy storage unit and solar cells as the power supply was installed and investigated as a model of a viable variant of the mini-power plant concept. Measurements were performed to obtain information about relevant storage characteristics such as efficiency and stability. Possibilities of fitting the storage unit to the solar supply were also investigated in order to get maximum charge and discharge efficiency.