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					</table><p>The use of vertical shafts in decommissioned underground mines for energy storage using gravity could provide a viable alternative to battery energy storage (BESS) and underground pumped hydro storage systems, a new International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (<a href="https://iiasa.ac.at/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IIASA</a>)-led study, with participation from an international team of researchers, said.</p>
<p>The study comes at a crucial time when the world is looking at accelerated solutions to tide over the intermittency of renewable sources with cost-effective and environment-friendly technology. Variable renewable energy (VRE) sources require energy storage options to reliably match energy demand at different time scales.</p>
<p>The system’s technical lifespan can range from 20-30 years, the study said. It added that its storage potential ranges from 7-70 TWh globally, with most of this potential concentrated in China, India, the U.S., and Russia.</p>
<p>The proposed technology called Underground Gravity Energy Storage (UGES) has a zero self-discharge rate, unlike BESS. Further, the technology uses sand which eliminates the prospects of contamination of underground water resources as opposed to the pumped hydro storage system (PHS).</p>
<p>The UGES technology in the vertical mine shafts would use electric motors and generators for lifting and dumping large volumes of sand. It can discharge electricity by lowering large volumes of sand into an underground mine through the mine shaft.</p>
<p>When there is excess electrical energy in the grid, UGES can store electricity by elevating sand from the mine and depositing it in upper storage sites on top of the mine.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Schematic-of-Different-Sections-of-the-Underground-Gravity-Energy-Storage-System.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-47919 " src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Schematic-of-Different-Sections-of-the-Underground-Gravity-Energy-Storage-System.png" alt="A Schematic of Different Sections of the Underground Gravity Energy Storage System" width="980" height="942" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Schematic-of-Different-Sections-of-the-Underground-Gravity-Energy-Storage-System.png 1430w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Schematic-of-Different-Sections-of-the-Underground-Gravity-Energy-Storage-System-300x288.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Schematic-of-Different-Sections-of-the-Underground-Gravity-Energy-Storage-System-768x738.png 768w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Schematic-of-Different-Sections-of-the-Underground-Gravity-Energy-Storage-System-650x625.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Schematic-of-Different-Sections-of-the-Underground-Gravity-Energy-Storage-System-624x600.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Schematic-of-Different-Sections-of-the-Underground-Gravity-Energy-Storage-System-600x577.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px" /></a>Fig: A Schematic of Different Sections of the Underground Gravity Energy Storage System</em></p>
<p>Julian Hunt, a researcher in the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program and the lead author of the study, said, “Mines already have the basic infrastructure and are connected to the power grid, which significantly reduces the cost and facilitates the implementation of UGES plants.”</p>
<p>The UGES technology can produce a modest but constant amount of energy for a long time. It could also be designed to store energy over weekly, monthly or seasonal scales, depending on the demand for energy storage.</p>
<p>“To offset the short-term changes in electricity consumption of solar and wind generation, this modest but consistent electricity generation might be supplemented with other storage technologies, such as batteries and PHS,” the study said.</p>
<p>It added that the cost of installed energy storage for UGES is estimated to vary from $1–10/kWh, assuming an average height difference between the upper and lower storage sites of 1500 and 200 meters, respectively.</p>
<p>Further, the study also said that the project is less expensive the more significant the height difference. The power generation capacity varies with the mine’s depths, the mine shaft’s diameter, and the sand moving speed.</p>
<p>“This paper proposed constructing several motors/generators along the shaft to reduce the cables’ costs and allow using smaller, more common/affordable motors/generators,” it said.</p>
<p>Recently, government-owned NTPC signed an <a href="https://mercomindia.com/daily-news-wrap-up-ntpc-signs-mou-energy-storage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreement</a> with Energy Vault Holdings to collaborate on deploying the latter’s gravity-based energy storage technology.</p>
<p>Further, SECI had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/seci-rd-proposals-set-up-pilot-energy-storage-systems/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sought</a> proposals for research and development to demonstrate scalability in gravity-based energy storage systems.</p>


Study Says Decommissioned Mines Can Act as Gravity Energy Storage Systems


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					</table><p>Edinburgh-based storage startup <a href="https://gravitricity.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gravitricity</a> has secured £194,000 ($233,174) from the United Kingdom government to find demonstration sites in India suitable for their gravity energy storage technology.</p>
<p>The project aims to identify how gravity energy storage can help decarbonize one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.</p>
<p>Gravitricity says its systems can operate for up to 50 years and efficiently store energy at half the cost of popular lithium-ion batteries.</p>
<p>The company’s energy storage system works by raising heavy weights up to 12,000 tons in a deep shaft using electricity from renewable energy when it is being generated.</p>
<p>When renewable energy generation dies down during the 24-hour daily cycle, the shaft is released to convert potential energy into electricity, solving the intermittent nature of clean power.</p>
<p>The Edinburgh firm has partnered with India energy specialists <a href="https://www.panitek.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Panitek Power</a>, which will work with local partners on the 12-month project to identify and shortlist sites for a demonstration.</p>
<p>India has set a target to install over 500 GW of renewables by 2030. The country requires a rapid increase in the installation of renewable energy, which brings the need also to store this energy and ensure optimum utilization.</p>
<p>Solar integrated with energy storage systems are ideally suited to India’s fast-evolving grid.</p>
<p>Chris Yendell, Project Development Manager at Gravitricity, said: “Solar power is extremely cheap in such a sunny country but brings with it a need for energy storage to meet peak morning and evening demand, both of which typically occur during the hours of darkness…With the introduction of renewable energy generation at this scale, new flexible storage services will be essential to ensure the grid continues to operate in a stable manner.”</p>
<p>“It is also a relatively simple technology. It doesn’t rely on any rare earth metals and has a very long lifespan, meaning it can be manufactured and deployed locally alongside vast amounts of new grid infrastructure, which will also be required to meet the rapid growth in demand,” Yendell said.</p>
<p>“India has an immediate and growing need for energy storage technologies,” Parag Vyas, Chief Commercial Officer, Panitek Power, said.</p>
<p>Vyas said there was little or no grid at many locations in the country, which calls for an integrated energy storage solution within their evolving infrastructure to cope with the intermittent generation.</p>
<p>He said Gravitricity’s technology, which has a response time of less than one second and can be cycled thousands of times, is ideally suited for grid balancing and rapid frequency response services.</p>
<p>Industry experts speaking at a recent webinar hosted by Mercom India <a href="https://mercomindia.com/battery-storage-system-costs-high-roi-attractive-mercom-webinar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the steep upfront investment required for lithium-ion battery storage systems is the major impediment in their large-scale deployment with solar projects, even though the return on investment is attractive.</p>
<p>In April, NTPC <a href="https://mercomindia.com/daily-news-wrap-up-ntpc-signs-mou-energy-storage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entered</a> into an agreement with Energy Vault Holdings to collaborate and formalize a long-term strategic partnership to deploy Energy Vault’s EVx gravity-based energy storage technology and software solutions based on the outcome of a joint feasibility study.</p>


Storage Startup Gravitricity Secures £194,000 for Tech Demonstration in India

<p>The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (<a href="https://mnre.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MNRE</a>) has issued invitations requesting proposals to develop gravity storage projects and also to utilize solar photovoltaic (PV) to produce hydrogen from seawater.</p>
<p>The ministry believes that with the increasing share of renewables in the country, there will soon be a requirement for energy storage to absorb fluctuations and for grid balancing.</p>
<p>Gravity-based energy storage has been proposed as a potential solution with unique advantages of short response time and flexibility. In such systems, electricity is used to lift mass to a higher elevation, thereby storing potential energy and lowering this mass discharges the energy can again be converted to electricity. Globally, several entities are working in this segment.</p>
<p>The MNRE has invited preliminary project proposals on gravity storage. The preliminary proposals will be examined by a committee, and shortlisted proposals will be invited to submit a final proposal. The objective is to develop state of the art technological know-how and develop a prototype system that has commercialization potential in the short term.</p>
<p>The proposal targets end to end complete technological solutions. The proposing institution may consider evolving multidisciplinary, multi-institutional, and multi-partner approach, including industry with an identified and complementary role of each member. Proposals have to be submitted to the MNRE by June 30, 2019.</p>
<p>The MNRE is of the view that globally, significant research is underway for minimizing the energy loss in electrolysis and developing a cost-competitive process for transforming the hydrogen and CO2 into methane (CH4). Excess electricity generated by intermittent renewables can be used to make hydrogen via water electrolysis, and the subsequent application of the Sabatier reaction would produce methane. The methane can then be used on demand to generate electricity (and heat — combined heat and power). This process has the potential to create a reliable, zero-emission source of fuel.</p>
<p>The ministry has invited preliminary project proposals on ‘solar driven seawater hydrogen production and producing methane by sequestering CO2’. The preliminary proposals will be examined by a committee, and shortlisted proposals will be invited to submit the final proposal. Proposals need to be submitted to the MNRE by June 30, 2019.</p>
<p>The MNRE plays an active role in ushering in new technology into India’s renewable energy sector. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/nise-workshop-for-startups-solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Recently</a>, Mercom reported that the National Institute of Solar Energy (<a href="https://nise.res.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NISE</a>), an autonomous institute under the MNRE, had announced that it would organize the fifteenth edition of its workshop on the prospects for startups for solar technologies.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://mercomindia.com/tata-deploy-energy-storage-35mwh-energy-vault/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">November</a> 2018, Tata Power announced that it would deploy a 35 MWh <a href="https://energyvault.ch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Energy Vault system</a>. Energy Vault system is based on the principles of traditional gravity-based pumped hydro projects that rely on the power of gravity and the movement of water to store and discharge electricity.  The technology combines both potential and kinetic energy with patented cloud-based software. It is expected to address one of the biggest problems faced when dealing with renewable energy – intermittency.</p>
<p>Image credit: Heindl Energy</p>


MNRE Invites Preliminary Proposals for Gravity-Based Storage Project

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