Recently, the Finnish company Polar Night Energy completed its first commercial sand energy storage heating system in Vatajankoski, which is called the world's first commercial sand battery heating system.
About 100 tons of sand are loaded into this 4-meter-wide, 7-meter-high steel containerized heat storage system, which has a thermal power of 100kW and a heat storage capacity of 8MWh.
This is a simple, economical and efficient energy storage method, which utilizes excess electricity from renewable energy sources to store heat through resistance heating of sand. When in use, the sand and air exchange heat to output hot air, which is then mixed with water. Wait for the medium to exchange heat to supply heat. It can be kept at high temperature of 500 degrees Celsius for several months, especially suitable for long-term energy storage.
Winters in Finland are cold and long, usually from November to April, lasting 4 to 6 months. Heating energy is the main energy consumption category. Its energy supply is largely dependent on Russia. Recently, Finland has sought to join NATO. , Russia has cut natural gas and electricity supply to Finland, which makes Finland's energy self-sufficiency problem more urgent.
The global long-term energy storage committee LDES predicts that by 2025, 25GW to 35GW of long-term energy storage systems will be installed worldwide, totaling about 1TWh and an investment of US$50 billion. As a long-term thermal energy storage technology, sand energy storage is being commercialized by several institutions around the world.
In Finland and other Nordic countries, because they are located in cold regions, the demand for heating is more important than that of my country. Therefore, many Nordic companies are working on developing cheap thermal energy storage technologies. Sand, gravel, metal, concrete and other materials are all being researched for thermal energy storage technology, but there is no breakthrough large-scale market application of any technology yet.
