Gravity-based energy storage tower

What is gravity energy storage (GESS)?

The Switzerland and California-based company announced that it is entering the first phases of commissioning for its first commercial-scale gravity energy storage system (GESS). Slated to be fully grid-interconnected in Q4 2023, the gravity tower will mark the world’s first non-pumped hydro gravity-based storage facility.

Where is the gravity tower located?

Slated to be fully grid-interconnected in the fourth quarter of 2023, the gravity tower will mark the world’s first non-pumped hydro gravity-based storage facility. The project is located near a wind power facility outside of Shanghai in Jiangsu province, China.

How does gravity based energy storage work?

“In each gravity-based energy storage, a certain mass is moved from a lower point to an upper point – with the use of a pump, if water for example – which represents ‘charging’ the storage, and from a higher to a lower point which creates a discharge of energy,” says Energy Vault CEO and co-founder Robert Piconi.

Does Energy Vault have a gravitational energy storage tower?

Energy Vault secured $100 million in Series C funding for its EVx tower, which stores gravitational potential energy for grid dispatch. The EVx energy storage tower lifts composite blocks with electric motors. Image: Energy Vault Energy Vault, maker of the EVx gravitational energy storage tower, has secured $100 million in series C funding.

Can gravity storage keep costs down?

Photograph: Peter Dibdin Edinburgh-based energy storage startup Gravitricity has found a novel way to keep the costs of gravity storage down: dropping its weights down disused mineshafts, rather than building towers.

Is gravity a solution to energy storage?

But without an easy way to store large amounts of energy and then release it when we need it, we may never undo our reliance on dirty, polluting, fossil-fuel-fired power stations. This is where gravity energy storage comes in. Proponents of the technology argue that gravity provides a neat solution to the storage problem.