Stuff like this is so interesting. I remember reading about using decommisioned mine shafts as batteries a few years back, I think that idea uses sand as well. These kinds of adaptive reuse are really important for a sustainable future!
this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
58 points (100.0% liked)
Futurology
2858 readers
32 users here now
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
That is what utilities need to be doing. Right now, they refuse to do much about energy storage, and home owners with solar or wind generation have to buy expensive batteries to buffer their production. That is stupid expensive for individual producers and is something a utility needs to take over. They just don't want to because it's more lucrative to burn fossil fuels and charge for that.
Why not just use a water reservoir which will also fill with water when it rains.
A Swiss company is trying this, though using concrete instead of water. Wear and tear and moving parts are disadvantages though.
https://www.swiss.tech/news/giant-gravity-batteries-storage-renewable-energies
This has no moving parts compared to water storage which requires pumping, and you’re describing hydroelectric power that requires building of dams or levees. Reservoirs are inefficient, have issues with evaporation, and basically flood habitat.
Dams have major ecological impacts. Water towers could work but as I understand it storing heat in sand or salt is more energy dense/efficient vs elevated water and gravity. All of what I just said is based solely on things I've read some time ago but cannot cite, and documentaries about dams