Flywheel energy storage in funicular electric plant

Energetic issues represent severe tasks at present. In particular intermittent loads capable to reverse the load flow are intensively studied in the last times, with the aim to recover energy as much as possible. Examples are trains and subways during braking phases, and also funiculars during descents. The present work focuses in general on funicular electric plants, which are notable examples of intermittent loads integrated (sometimes) with renewable (photo-voltaic) energy sources. The main idea is to investigate the possibility to insert a hybrid flywheel and electrochemical based storage system able to maximize system performances. An accurate model of the whole plant has been implemented in Simulink™ and several simulations have been carried out. Finally main results are shown ad discussed.