Gravity Energy Storage Will Show Its Potential in 2021

[thackney]

Gravity Energy Storage Will Show Its Potential in 2021
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/batteries-storage/gravity-energy-storage-will-show-its-potential-in-2021
05 Jan 2021

Cranes are a familiar fixture of practically any city skyline, but one in the Swiss City of Ticino, near the Italian border, would stand out anywhere: It has six arms. This 110-meter-high starfish of the skyline isn’t intended for construction. It’s meant to prove that renewable energy can be stored by hefting heavy loads and dispatched by releasing them.

Energy Vault, the Swiss company that built the structure, has already begun a test program that will lead to its first commercial deployments in 2021. At least one competitor, Gravitricity, in Scotland, is nearing the same point. And there are at least two companies with similar ideas, New Energy Let’s Go and Gravity Power, that are searching for the funding to push forward....

...To be sure, nearly all the world’s currently operational energy-storage facilities, which can generate a total of 174 gigawatts, rely on gravity. Pumped hydro storage, where water is pumped to a higher elevation and then run back through a turbine to generate electricity, has long dominated the energy-storage landscape....



Skyline Starfish: Energy Vault’s concept demonstrator has been hooked to the grid in Ticino, Switzerland, since July 2020. By raising and lowering 35-metric-ton blocks [not shown] the tower stores and releases energy....

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more info:
https://energyvault.com/

[Idiot]

Gravity Energy Storage Will Show Its Potential in 2021
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/batteries-storage/gravity-energy-storage-will-show-its-potential-in-2021
05 Jan 2021

Cranes are a familiar fixture of practically any city skyline, but one in the Swiss City of Ticino, near the Italian border, would stand out anywhere: It has six arms. This 110-meter-high starfish of the skyline isn’t intended for construction. It’s meant to prove that renewable energy can be stored by hefting heavy loads and dispatched by releasing them.

Energy Vault, the Swiss company that built the structure, has already begun a test program that will lead to its first commercial deployments in 2021. At least one competitor, Gravitricity, in Scotland, is nearing the same point. And there are at least two companies with similar ideas, New Energy Let’s Go and Gravity Power, that are searching for the funding to push forward....

...To be sure, nearly all the world’s currently operational energy-storage facilities, which can generate a total of 174 gigawatts, rely on gravity. Pumped hydro storage, where water is pumped to a higher elevation and then run back through a turbine to generate electricity, has long dominated the energy-storage landscape....



Skyline Starfish: Energy Vault’s concept demonstrator has been hooked to the grid in Ticino, Switzerland, since July 2020. By raising and lowering 35-metric-ton blocks [not shown] the tower stores and releases energy....

- - - - - - -

more info:
https://energyvault.com/

Yeah I'd want one of those in my backyard.   

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Looks cumbersome, expensive and a big eye sore.

Unlikely that a tower would have much application, I would think.

Seems places located near mountains would be more appealing for this type of storage.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I'm sorry... how does this work? Is this a perpetual motion machine?

[thackney]

I'm sorry... how does this work? Is this a perpetual motion machine?

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

Like a pumped storage system, it uses gravity to release energy previously stored by moving mass from a higher location to a lower location.

The energy is stored by stacking mass higher.  It is lifted up using motors.

The energy is release by lowering that same mass, letting the motor function as a generator.  Gravity pulls the weight connected by cables, causes the rotor to spin and generate electricity.

Like all energy storage systems, it is a net loss of energy.  But it allows the system to be "charged" when electric demand is low, like at night.  That stored energy is then released during peak demand when demand is high.



If you lift the weight during the blue time and lower it during the orange, you can make a profit even with the energy losses.

[thackney]

Yeah I'd want one of those in my backyard.   

Not intended for an individual's backyard. 

I am guessing you would not want a power plant, electrical substation, transmission towers, or any of the like in your backyard.

But I suspect you do want the lights to work and the heat/AC to run when you want it.

Cheers!

[thackney]

Looks cumbersome, expensive and a big eye sore.

Unlikely that a tower would have much application, I would think.

Seems places located near mountains would be more appealing for this type of storage.

This was a proof of concept model.  Reality is you could cover it in a shell and it would fit in aesthetically in a downtown area.

Or the same type equipment using an abandoned mine shaft underground.

Mountains are a rather limited supply and geographically away from the majority of electrical demand.

I am not suggesting this is a great solution.  There is not enough info to decide if it is an economic solution.  But they did make it work, now we need to see the data.

[catfish1957]

Yeah I'd want one of those in my backyard.   

Or peppered along the western U.S, like those awful wind turbines.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

Like a pumped storage system, it uses gravity to release energy previously stored by moving mass from a higher location to a lower location.

The energy is stored by stacking mass higher.  It is lifted up using motors.

The energy is release by lowering that same mass, letting the motor function as a generator.  Gravity pulls the weight connected by cables, causes the rotor to spin and generate electricity.

Like all energy storage systems, it is a net loss of energy.  But it allows the system to be "charged" when electric demand is low, like at night.  That stored energy is then released during peak demand when demand is high.



If you lift the weight during the blue time and lower it during the orange, you can make a profit even with the energy losses.

Oh ok, it's an energy storage solution. Like a grandfather clock, it stores energy using weights. Neat idea.

[Fishrrman]

Perpetual motion machine, designed in a new way.

You were right, Weird...

[Smokin Joe]

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

Like a pumped storage system, it uses gravity to release energy previously stored by moving mass from a higher location to a lower location.

The energy is stored by stacking mass higher.  It is lifted up using motors.

The energy is release by lowering that same mass, letting the motor function as a generator.  Gravity pulls the weight connected by cables, causes the rotor to spin and generate electricity.

Like all energy storage systems, it is a net loss of energy.  But it allows the system to be "charged" when electric demand is low, like at night.  That stored energy is then released during peak demand when demand is high.



If you lift the weight during the blue time and lower it during the orange, you can make a profit even with the energy losses.

The concept in action https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_County_Pumped_Storage_Station

I did work on an archaeological crew in the lower valley prior to the project's completion. (Long ago and far away_.

[thackney]

Perpetual motion machine, designed in a new way.

You were right, Weird...

Nope, not even related.

It is a battery, like storing water behind a hydro dam.

[Idiot]

Nope, not even related.

It is a battery, like storing water behind a hydro dam.

A battery with a lot of moving parts.

[thackney]

A battery with a lot of moving parts.

Far less than a typical power plant filled with pumps, coolant and lube systems, heat recovery, etc.  And using far less real estate than a pumped storage system.

And it uses no batteries dependent upon china for the rare earth metals.

[Smokin Joe]

Far less than a typical power plant filled with pumps, coolant and lube systems, heat recovery, etc.  And using far less real estate than a pumped storage system.

And it uses no batteries dependent upon china for the rare earth metals.

If the system used large flywheels, it could get more bang for the buck in terms of using the potential energy stored when the weights are lifted. The Bath County, VA project used water, pumped into the upper reservoir during low usage hours, released into the lower reservoir through tunnels bored in the mountain to generate electricity during peak load times. It was a 'big deal' in the late 1970s and continues to operate. A  similar idea involved storing compressed air in salt caverns solution mined for that purpose (and the sodium and potassium salts) using compressors run by windmills, and then using the air in low wind periods to run turbines to generate electricity to maintain output.

The basic concept is the storage of energy for when it is needed, It is just finding a way to do it.

BTW, those cables will have to be changed out after a certain number of ton miles are run, just like the lines on any crane or lifting system, (including those on oil rigs). So factor in the wire rope as a consumable (along with the energy needed to produce it) and the daily lubrication needed to maintain the system.

[thackney]

If the system used large flywheels, it could get more bang for the buck in terms of using the potential energy stored when the weights are lifted. The Bath County, VA project used water, pumped into the upper reservoir during low usage hours, released into the lower reservoir through tunnels bored in the mountain to generate electricity during peak load times. It was a 'big deal' in the late 1970s and continues to operate. A  similar idea involved storing compressed air in salt caverns solution mined for that purpose (and the sodium and potassium salts) using compressors run by windmills, and then using the air in low wind periods to run turbines to generate electricity to maintain output.

The basic concept is the storage of energy for when it is needed, It is just finding a way to do it.

BTW, those cables will have to be changed out after a certain number of ton miles are run, just like the lines on any crane or lifting system, (including those on oil rigs).

It should be a rather efficient system once it is built.  Motor and Generator efficiency, when designed for specific, constant load can be 99%.  Once lifted, it can set for many hours, days, whatever with no losses like friction.

The air storage systems had a efficiency losses with the heating of compressed air.  Their are recovery methods, but not as efficient as a motor/generator set.

Again, I not suggesting this is the best method, but it has some real consideration now that the proof of concept is built.  We need to see the numbers now, capital and maintenance included.

[Smokin Joe]

It should be a rather efficient system once it is built.  Motor and Generator efficiency, when designed for specific, constant load can be 99%.  Once lifted, it can set for many hours, days, whatever with no losses like friction.

The air storage systems had a efficiency losses with the heating of compressed air.  Their are recovery methods, but not as efficient as a motor/generator set.

Again, I not suggesting this is the best method, but it has some real consideration now that the proof of concept is built.  We need to see the numbers now, capital and maintenance included.

That air was going to be heated anyway.  The Prairie has temperatures in the range of 150-180 degrees F.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I am not suggesting this is a great solution.  There is not enough info to decide if it is an economic solution.  But they did make it work, now we need to see the data.

The engineer in me knows it will work, most definitely.

The economist in me is waiting with skepticism for the part indicating it is economic.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

This was a proof of concept model.  Reality is you could cover it in a shell and it would fit in aesthetically in a downtown area.

Or the same type equipment using an abandoned mine shaft underground.

Mountains are a rather limited supply and geographically away from the majority of electrical demand.

I am not suggesting this is a great solution.  There is not enough info to decide if it is an economic solution.  But they did make it work, now we need to see the data.

Lots of mountains or high hills in many places, from El Paso to Los Angeles area to Bogota to Denver to Albuquerque to Salt Lake to Vancouver.....

[thackney]

Lots of mountains or high hills in many places, from El Paso to Los Angeles area to Bogota to Denver to Albuquerque to Salt Lake to Vancouver.....

Straight up and down is the highest efficiency of this design.  Every horizontal movement of inclines introduces losses.

[Joe Wooten]

Perpetual motion machine, designed in a new way.

You were right, Weird...

You've got PM on the brain. It is not a PM, Like Thackney said, it is a net energy loser, just like pumped hydro and Compressed Air Storage, but it does make money by charging when electricity costs are low and discharging when electricity prices are high.

[Smokin Joe]

You've got PM on the brain. It is not a PM, Like Thackney said, it is a net energy loser, just like pumped hydro and Compressed Air Storage, but it does make money by charging when electricity costs are low and discharging when electricity prices are high.

Yep. Like the Bath County VA project does with water, this would be a peak load facility more than something to rely on for economical generation.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Straight up and down is the highest efficiency of this design.  Every horizontal movement of inclines introduces losses.

Those losses are seemingly overcome by the incredible advantages of gaining much more elevation and the absence of a self-supported structure like that though.  The scale of size can be much more beneficial too.