Providing energy year-round has so far presented one of green power’s most insurmountable challenges — but now the world’s first fully functional sand battery, which can store green power for months, could present a valuable solution.
According to BBC News, engineers working for Finnish company Polar Night Energy have put sand to work. They installed the first sand battery in July 2022 and have seen promising results so far. The sand is stored in a simple silo, a humble innovation that may help provide a path forward for cleaner, cheaper energy as a viable, sustainable part of everyday life.
While green energy sources are often readily available at certain times of the year, a long-running concern has been finding avenues to store that energy for colder months, when more families and businesses need to turn up the heat.
How would sand batteries work?
First, existing solar panels and wind turbines would generate electricity using natural and available sources.
Some of that electricity would be put to use directly and immediately through an electrical grid to meet current demands, but the remaining, unused energy could be stored as heat in a sand battery, which can…