It doesn’t seem much, but Finland has recently launched the switch on the largest sand -based battery in the world.
Yes, sand.
A sand battery is a type of thermal energy accumulation system that uses sand or crushed rock to preserve heat. Electricity – generally from renewable sources – is used to heat the sand. That stored heat can subsequently be used for various ends, even for hot buildings.
The economy is compelling and it is difficult to become cheaper than the crushed soapstone now hosted inside a sil isolated in the small town of Pornainen. The soapstone was substantially garbage, discarded by a Finnish producer.
Although it may not be visually impressive as a large lithium -ion battery pack, the 2,000 tons of powdered rock inside the 49 -feet wide sil promise to cut Pornainen carbon emissions, helping the city to eliminate the expensive oil that currently helps to feed the city district heating network.
Like many Scandinavian cities, Pornainen manages a central boiler that warms water for houses and buildings in the city. The Polar Night battery can keep 1,000 heat megawattora for weeks at a time, enough for a week of heating in the cold Finnish winter. From archive to recovery, only about 10% to 15% of the heat and the temperature at the exit can be lost up to 400 degrees Celsius.
The city’s district heating system is also based on flames and sand battery will reduce this consumption of about 60%, according to Polar Night. The heat of the battery could also generate electricity, although the process would sacrifice a certain efficiency.
Since renewable energies have become cheaper, the interest in thermal batteries has grown. In addition to the polar night, numerous startups are pursuing thermal batteries. Sunamp based in Scotland is building one This is based on the same material that gives chips salt and win of their flavor. Electrified thermal solutions, Battlefield startups of Techcrunch 2023 runner uphas created a type of brick that can produce heat approaching 2,000 degrees Celsius. And the fourth power is making the graphite blocks Store electricity As a 2,400 degree heat Celsius.
Pornainen’s battery is loaded using electricity from the network and its enormous storage capacity allows the operator to draw energy when it is cheaper. The Finland grid is Mainly renewable (43%) and nuclear (26%), which means that its electricity is rather clean. It is also the cheaper in Europe Just under € 0.08 for Chilowattora-Men of half of the EU average.
Polar Night has not revealed the costs of the project, although the raw materials are cheap and the structure itself is not particularly complex. A much smaller prototype built a few years ago cost $ 25 for Chilowattora storage, the company estimated at the moment. The new version is likely to be cheaper. Lithium -ion batteries cost $ 115 for Chilowattora.
