Sand battery: Finland's answer to a renewable energy headache

Discussion (3 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

MrDrMcCoy•about 1 hour ago

I heard a long time ago about using molten salt heated by solar mirrors for something like this, but the corrosiveness of the salt proved to be challenging. I wonder if these two technologies could be combined...

kamranjon•about 3 hours ago

This does seem like a prett niche solution because the electricity is converted into heat and then just used directly as heating - which removes a lot of the utility of electricity.

It is a great solution for places where heating is the primary use of electricity and I hope it finds broader applications.

3eb7988a1663•about 2 hours ago

Roughly a quarter of global energy is directed towards industrial heating. There are many "hot rocks" companies who have been commercializing ways to time shift cheap/free daily solar to night or even longer stretches.

I personally like Rondo's pitch[0] which is stacking concrete bricks into "heat batteries".

[0] https://www.rondo.com/

Sand battery: Finland's answer to a renewable energy headache

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Discussion (3 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews