Proponents say gravity-based programs may assist meet demand for long-duration storage. However there’s additionally skepticism about the way forward for the strategy, since they’ll require plenty of work to construct, they usually may be harder to keep up than anticipated. EnergyVault is making progress on a deliberate facility in China, although the corporate has additionally been deploying plenty of lithium-ion battery installations as of late.
The massive squeeze
Let’s return to highschool physics another time for one more idea: stress. If you happen to squeeze one thing right into a smaller area, you’re elevating the stress.
Turning that stress into usable power is the concept behind compressed-air power storage. All you want is an underground salt cavern. Once you’ve acquired electrical energy you want to use, you’ll be able to run pumps to push air contained in the cavern. Then, when you want to get power out, simply launch a valve and let the escaping air spin a turbine to generate electrical energy once more.
There are solely a few these services working worldwide, one in Germany and one other in Alabama. Previously, they’ve been tied up with fossil fuels, since they normally work alongside natural-gas energy vegetation. However now corporations wish to reimagine compressed-air storage, utilizing it for renewables and increasing the place it may be used.
Earlier this yr, native governments in California signed contracts with Hydrostor, which is constructing what could be the world’s largest compressed-air storage facility. As a substitute of counting on pure geological circumstances, Hydrostor will drill three shafts deep into the earth to retailer the compressed air.
It’s a billion-dollar mission, and it may very well be working as quickly as 2028 to retailer power and assist clean out California’s grid utilizing nothing however air.
Different teams wish to take a unique strategy to the identical idea. Vitality Dome, an Italian startup, desires to compress carbon dioxide as an alternative of air to retailer power. This wouldn’t require giant underground storage caverns in any respect—for extra on the small print right here, take a look at my story from final yr on Vitality Dome.
Earth to battery
Some teams are additionally trying to pair these new approaches to power storage with efforts to generate electrical energy, making new energy vegetation extra versatile.
