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Gravity battery
A gravity battery is a type of energy storage device that stores gravitational energy—the potential energy given to an object when it is raised against the force of gravity.
In a common application, when renewable energy sources such as wind and solar provide more energy than is immediately required, the excess energy is used to move a mass upward against the force of gravity to generate gravitational potential energy. When customers eventually require more energy than the sources can provide, the mass is lowered to convert the potential energy into electricity using an electric generator. Though solid masses such as concrete blocks can be used, more commonly, pumped-storage hydroelectricity generation involves pumping water to higher elevations and later guiding it through water turbines to generate electricity.
An old and simple application is the pendulum clock driven by a weight, which at 1 kg and 1 m travel can store nearly 10 newton-meters [Nm], joules [J] or watt-seconds [Ws], thus 1/3600 of a watt-hour [Wh], while a typical Lithium-ion battery 18650 cell can hold about 7 Wh, thus 2500 times more at 1/20 of the weight. A 100 kg human would have to climb stairs of ten floors (25 m) to match the little battery cell. A 10 ton King Kong climbing a 250m building, and falling down, equals 7 kWh of gravity battery, the size of a small electric motorcycle battery, or the first series of Tesla Powerwall home storage battery.
Using a weight the size of a bus made of scrap iron, at 700 tons, lowered into a 1000 m deep mine shaft, would provide 1900 kWh, but at over US$ 100 per ton of scrap iron, would cost US$ 70000, which in 2023 already could buy over 500 kWh of lithium-ion battery packs at US$ 139 per kWh.[dubious – discuss]
To challenge chemical batteries on planet Earth, with g around 9.8 m/s², and height differences limited to those of mountains or ocean sea beds, only the mass can be scaled, using water in at least two lakes for pumped-storage hydroelectricity. For example, up to 4 Gigawatthours (GWh) of energy can be stored at Markersbach plant in Germany, which operates since 1979, using two water reservoirs of over 6 million m3 capacity (6 million tons of mass) with a height difference (hydraulic head) of 288 m (945 ft). The turbines can pump, or generate, at up to 1045 MW, for several hours, and usually two full pump-generate cycles within 24 hours. In Germany as of June 2024, pumped storage can hold a total energy of 39 GWh while battery storage is over 14 GWh, with installed power at just under 10 GW for each. The capacity of the 1,4 million battery electric cars in Germany is estimated at around 102 GWh as of June 2024; only few of them can feed back energy into a house, or the grid. Five years before the Markersbach plant opened, work began on the Dinorwig pumped storage Power Station in Snowdonia (Eryri) in North Wales. Utilising a disused quarry as a reservoir and with the machinery inside a mountain, the plant opened in 1984. It has a storage capacity of approx. 9.1 GWh (33TJ) and can supply a maximum power of 1,728 MW. It is described as the largest pumped storage power station in Europe. Development of the Dinorwig facility was preceded by the opening in 1963 of the smaller Ffestiniog power station, with a capacity of 1.44GWh, and a maximum output of 360MW.
The earliest form of a device that used gravity to power mechanical movement was the pendulum clock, invented in 1656 by Christiaan Huygens. The clock was powered by the force of gravity using an escapement mechanism, that made a pendulum move back and forth. Since then, gravity batteries have advanced into systems that can utilize the force due to gravity, and turn it into electricity for large scale energy storage.
The first gravity based pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH) system was developed in 1907 in Switzerland. In 1930, pumped-storage came to the United States by the Connecticut Electric and Power Company. As of 2019, the total world capacity for PSH is 168 GW (gigawatts). The United States has 23 GW capacity from PSH, accounting for nearly 2% of the energy supply system and 95% of utility-scale energy storage in the US. Gravity based pumped-storage electricity is currently the largest form of grid energy storage in the world.
In 2012, Martin Riddiford and Jim Reeves developed the first functioning prototype of GravityLight, a small-scale gravity battery that is now commercially available in certain countries.
Hub AI
Gravity battery AI simulator
(@Gravity battery_simulator)
Gravity battery
A gravity battery is a type of energy storage device that stores gravitational energy—the potential energy given to an object when it is raised against the force of gravity.
In a common application, when renewable energy sources such as wind and solar provide more energy than is immediately required, the excess energy is used to move a mass upward against the force of gravity to generate gravitational potential energy. When customers eventually require more energy than the sources can provide, the mass is lowered to convert the potential energy into electricity using an electric generator. Though solid masses such as concrete blocks can be used, more commonly, pumped-storage hydroelectricity generation involves pumping water to higher elevations and later guiding it through water turbines to generate electricity.
An old and simple application is the pendulum clock driven by a weight, which at 1 kg and 1 m travel can store nearly 10 newton-meters [Nm], joules [J] or watt-seconds [Ws], thus 1/3600 of a watt-hour [Wh], while a typical Lithium-ion battery 18650 cell can hold about 7 Wh, thus 2500 times more at 1/20 of the weight. A 100 kg human would have to climb stairs of ten floors (25 m) to match the little battery cell. A 10 ton King Kong climbing a 250m building, and falling down, equals 7 kWh of gravity battery, the size of a small electric motorcycle battery, or the first series of Tesla Powerwall home storage battery.
Using a weight the size of a bus made of scrap iron, at 700 tons, lowered into a 1000 m deep mine shaft, would provide 1900 kWh, but at over US$ 100 per ton of scrap iron, would cost US$ 70000, which in 2023 already could buy over 500 kWh of lithium-ion battery packs at US$ 139 per kWh.[dubious – discuss]
To challenge chemical batteries on planet Earth, with g around 9.8 m/s², and height differences limited to those of mountains or ocean sea beds, only the mass can be scaled, using water in at least two lakes for pumped-storage hydroelectricity. For example, up to 4 Gigawatthours (GWh) of energy can be stored at Markersbach plant in Germany, which operates since 1979, using two water reservoirs of over 6 million m3 capacity (6 million tons of mass) with a height difference (hydraulic head) of 288 m (945 ft). The turbines can pump, or generate, at up to 1045 MW, for several hours, and usually two full pump-generate cycles within 24 hours. In Germany as of June 2024, pumped storage can hold a total energy of 39 GWh while battery storage is over 14 GWh, with installed power at just under 10 GW for each. The capacity of the 1,4 million battery electric cars in Germany is estimated at around 102 GWh as of June 2024; only few of them can feed back energy into a house, or the grid. Five years before the Markersbach plant opened, work began on the Dinorwig pumped storage Power Station in Snowdonia (Eryri) in North Wales. Utilising a disused quarry as a reservoir and with the machinery inside a mountain, the plant opened in 1984. It has a storage capacity of approx. 9.1 GWh (33TJ) and can supply a maximum power of 1,728 MW. It is described as the largest pumped storage power station in Europe. Development of the Dinorwig facility was preceded by the opening in 1963 of the smaller Ffestiniog power station, with a capacity of 1.44GWh, and a maximum output of 360MW.
The earliest form of a device that used gravity to power mechanical movement was the pendulum clock, invented in 1656 by Christiaan Huygens. The clock was powered by the force of gravity using an escapement mechanism, that made a pendulum move back and forth. Since then, gravity batteries have advanced into systems that can utilize the force due to gravity, and turn it into electricity for large scale energy storage.
The first gravity based pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH) system was developed in 1907 in Switzerland. In 1930, pumped-storage came to the United States by the Connecticut Electric and Power Company. As of 2019, the total world capacity for PSH is 168 GW (gigawatts). The United States has 23 GW capacity from PSH, accounting for nearly 2% of the energy supply system and 95% of utility-scale energy storage in the US. Gravity based pumped-storage electricity is currently the largest form of grid energy storage in the world.
In 2012, Martin Riddiford and Jim Reeves developed the first functioning prototype of GravityLight, a small-scale gravity battery that is now commercially available in certain countries.