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.

  • Jo Miran
    19·
    11 months ago

    Just guessing here but I think they are playing with gear ratios. A large turbine with high resistance being slowly turned by a heavy weight could generate power for an extended period of time.

    EDIT: Maybe the shaft is the turbine. Like a big rotating corkscrew.

    • Ekky@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      5·
      11 months ago

      And that’s my confusion, why use a turbine (connected to a lift) to turn the heavy weight into a flow of steam or liquid, presumably to convert this flow to electricity using another turbine with a generator connected to it, instead of simply converting the heavy weight to electricity using a lift (or corkscrew) to turn the generator?

      This is, of course, assuming that a turbine only is a turbine when it is driven by steam or liquid.

      I guess the publishers of the article either got the definition wrong, or there’s a less used definition of turbine which I am not aware of.