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Europe’s deepest mine to become giant gravity battery (www.independent.co.uk)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

94 comments fedilink hide all child comments

An abandoned mine in Finland is set to be transformed into a giant battery to store renewable energy during periods of excess production.

The Pyhäsalmi Mine, roughly 450 kilometres north of Helsinki, is Europe’s deepest zinc and copper mine and holds the potential to store up to 2 MW of energy within its 1,400-metre-deep shafts.

The disused mine will be fitted with a gravity battery, which uses excess energy from renewable sources like solar and wind in order to lift a heavy weight. During periods of low production, the weight is released and used to power a turbine as it drops.

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[–] [email protected] 138 points 9 months ago (37 children)

holds the potential to store up to 2 MW of energy

2nd paragraph and he's already lost me. It would be nice if tech columnists had the equivalent of even a single semester of high school physics.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

That's a miniscule amount compared to PSH facilities, whether it's 2 MW capacity or 2 MWh storage.

It's a cool concept but practically seems limited to niche applications due to the small capacity. Granted it is a prototype, but it also seems intuitive that pumping large amounts of water would be more efficient than moving solid blocks of heavy material for a gravity battery design.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

They were actually planning pumped storage there earlier, with a claimed capacity of 530MWh https://yle.fi/a/3-12593341

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