An optimum design has been performed to maximize specific energy (SED) of composite flywheel rotor for energy storage system. The flywheel rotor is assumed to be an axisymmetric thick laminated shell with a plane strain state for structural analysis. For the structural analysis the centrifugal force is considered and the stiffness matrix equation was derived for each ring considering the interferences between the rings. The global stiffness matrix was derived by integrating the local stiffness matrix satisfying the conditions of force and displacement compatibilities. Displacements are then calculated from the global stiffness matrix and the stresses in each ring are also calculated. 3-D intra-laminar quadratic Tsai-Wu criterion is then used for the strength analysis. An optimum procedure is also developed to find the optimal interferences and lay up angle to maximize SED using the sensitivity analysis.