China's 40-story concrete tower stores wind energy by lifting and dropping 35-ton blocks as gravity battery
By
@autonocion
Summary
China has built a 148-meter (40-story) concrete tower near Shanghai that stores wind farm energy using a gravity-based system. The tower lifts 35-ton blocks when excess wind power is available, then drops them through generators to release electricity when the grid needs it. This gravity energy storage approach offers an alternative to pumped-hydro (which requires mountains and lakes) and lithium batteries (which have chemical and supply chain concerns). The system is operational and represents a novel approach to grid-scale energy storage without rare earth minerals or lithium.
Source
bskyChina's 40-story concrete tower stores wind energy by lifting and dropping 35-ton blocks as gravity batteryautonocion.comKey quotes
· 3 pulledStoring electricity from wind and solar is the part of the green transition nobody likes to talk about, mostly because the answers are either boring or enormous.
China has a third option up and running on its coast now, and it doesn't look like either one.
North of Shanghai there's a 148-meter concrete tower that stores a wind farm's electricity by stacking 35-ton blocks on top of each other.
You might also wanna read
Energy Dome Launches 20-Megawatt CO2 Battery Storage Facility in Sardinia for Grid Energy Storage
Energy Dome has launched a 20-megawatt CO2 battery energy storage facility in Sardinia that uses 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide to store exc
spectrum.ieee.org·6mo ago
Finland Deploys 1 MW/100 MWh Sand Battery for District Heating Energy Storage
A Finnish city has inaugurated a 1 MW/100 MWh sand battery that stores energy using heated sand, supporting the local district heating syste
cleantechnica.com·9mo ago
China's Massive Renewable Energy Expansion: Installing More Than Half of Global Wind and Solar Capacity
China has dramatically accelerated its renewable energy expansion, installing more than half of all new global wind and solar capacity in th
e360.yale.edu·5mo ago
Sizable Energy's Ocean-Based Energy Storage System Using Flexible Underwater Reservoirs
The article profiles Sizable Energy, a startup developing a novel approach to energy storage using flexible reservoirs in the ocean. Inspire
techcrunch.com·7mo ago
Finland to Build 250MWh Sand Battery for District Heating and Grid Services
Finnish companies Polar Night Energy and Lahti Energia are partnering to build a large-scale 'Sand Battery' thermal energy storage system in
energy-storage.news·6mo ago
ARES North America: Gravity-Based Energy Storage Using Rail Systems
ARES North America (Advanced Rail Energy Storage) is a gravity-based energy storage system that uses rail cars on inclined tracks to store a
aresnorthamerica.com·5mo ago