The world’s first ‘sand battery’ started working in Finland
It can store energy for months
The device allows you to store solar and wind energy until the onset of winter, when the price and demand for heat increases. The installation is located at the Watayankoski Power Station in Western Finland.
The battery should solve one of the main problems of green energy – seasonality. The device works according to the principle of electric fireplaces: the energy heats the sand to 500 °C, then it uses a heat exchanger to heat the air circulating inside the chamber. It is used in winter to heat water in the central heating system, from where heat is supplied to the building.
Sand is stored in a giant bunker, its volume is 100 tons. Sand is well suited for energy saving due to its high heat capacity: it heats up slowly and cools down just as slowly. It is noted that the temperature in the storage can be kept at 500 °C for several months.
