What is it?

 

Electrical energy storage systems store electricity in devices by means of static charge. 

 

 

What are some examples?

 

Capacitors are the most widely used device for electrical energy storage. They store energy on the surface of metal electrodes and are able to work with extremely high currents, but only for very short periods of time.

 

Supercapacitors are a larger version of capacitors that use a thin layer of electrolyte to store an electrical charge. They are able to work for longer durations than capcitors, but they can only work with lower currents. They typically operate above 90 percent efficiency.

 

A larger electrical storage device is the superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system. These machines send a current through a superconducting coil to store large amounts of electricity. They are capable of releasing megawatts of power and operate at over 95 percent efficiency.

 

 

Advantages:

• capacitors can handle high currents

• supercapacitors can work for long durations

• SMES systems carry huge amounts of power

 

 

Disadvantages:

• capacitors have a short usage period

• supercapactors can only handle low currents

• SMES systems are very high cost