Estimates suggest abandoned mine shafts could store enough electricity to power the planet

An abandoned mine in Finland is set to be transformed into a giant battery to store renewable energy during periods of excess production.

The Pyhäsalmi Mine, roughly 450 kilometres north of Helsinki, is Europe’s deepest zinc and copper mine and holds the potential to store up to 2 MW of energy within its 1,400-metre-deep shafts.

The disused mine will be fitted with a gravity battery, which uses excess energy from renewable sources like solar and wind in order to lift a heavy weight. During periods of low production, the weight is released and used to power a turbine as it drops.

  • laughterlaughter@lemmy.world
    1·
    10 months ago

    Thanks for doing the math and for expanding.

    The way I see it is: if I gather all the electricity I use to power my appliances in a week and just for one home - my home (fridge, heat, washing machines, vacuum cleaner, lightbulbs, laptop), and use it to lift that rock, how high will that rock get?

    Also, I wasn’t even picturing a rock that small (10,000 kgs in water can be stored half a bedroom of a midsized apartment. Let’s just assume that it would take about the same volume in “rock.”) I was picturing a rock that’s 10m by 10m by 100m tall. More like 10,000,000 kgs.