Swiss concrete energy storage tower

Can a steel tower be used for construction?

Six arms protrude from the top, hoisting giant blocks into the sky. But these aren’t building blocks, and the crane isn’t being used for construction. The steel tower is a giant mechanical energy storage system, designed by American-Swissstartup Energy Vault, that relies on gravity and 35-ton bricks to store and release energy.

How does a concrete tower work?

Source: Energy Vault Gravitational Batteries Topping each tower are cranes that raise and lower thousands of the stackable concrete blocks, each weighing 35 metric tons. Excess grid electricity powers motors in the crane to lift the blocks, picking them up from an outer ring of extras and hoisting them to the top of an inner concentric ring.

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 you store green energy in giant concrete blocks?

Finding green energy when the winds are calm and the skies are cloudy has been a challenge. Storing it in giant concrete blocks could be the answer. The Commercial Demonstration Unit lifts blocks weighing 35 tons each. Photograph: Giovanni Frondoni In a Swiss valley, an unusual multi-armed crane lifts two 35-ton concrete blocks high into the air.

How much power does a standard tower have?

Source: Energy Vault A standard tower has a 35 MWh capacity with a 4 MW peak power output that can be modulated based on demand. Energy Vault claims 90% round-trip efficiency, which is enabled by mechanical simplicity grounded in fundamental physics directed by an intelligent control scheme.

Will lithium-ion be the future of energy storage?

Schmidt thinks that lithium-ion will satisfy most of the world’s need for new storage until national power grids hit 80 percent renewables, and then the need for longer-term storage will be met by a host of competing technologies, including flow batteries, compressed air, thermal storage and gravity storage.