How a sand battery could transform clean energy
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The Vatajankoski power plant is home to the world's first
commercial-scale sand battery. Fully enclosed in a 7m (23ft)-high
steel container, the battery consists of 100 tonnes of low-grade
builders' sand, two district heating pipes and a fan. The sand becomes
a battery after it is heated up to 600C using electricity generated by
wind turbines and solar panels in Finland, brought by Vatajankoski,
the owners of the power plant.
The renewable energy powers a resistance heater which heats up the air
inside the sand. Inside the battery, this hot air is circulated by a
fan around the sand through heat exchange pipes.
Thick insulation surrounds the sand, keeping the temperature inside
the battery at 600C (1,112F), even when it is freezing outside. "We
don't want to lose any heat; the average winter temperature is below
0C (32F) in Kankanpaa," says Ville Kivioja, lead scientist at Polar
Night Energy, who monitors the battery's performance online.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221102-how-a-sand-battery-could-transform-clean-energy
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