{"id":6758,"date":"2018-04-24T10:57:36","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T09:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/?p=6758"},"modified":"2018-04-25T08:19:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-25T07:19:15","slug":"gravity-energy-storage-cheaper-than-lithium-batteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/gravity-energy-storage-cheaper-than-lithium-batteries\/","title":{"rendered":"Gravity energy storage \u2018cheaper than lithium batteries\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A report by independent analysts at Imperial College London predicts that Gravitricity<\/a><\/span>\u2019s gravity energy storage system may offer a better long-term cost of energy storage than batteries or other alternatives \u2013 particularly in grid balancing and rapid frequency response services.<\/p>\nGravitricity<\/a><\/span> uses a massive weight suspended in mine shafts to capture power and then release it in seconds .<\/p>\n

In February Gravitricity received a \u00a3650,000 grant from Innovate UK, the UK Government\u2019s innovation agency, to build their prototype.<\/p>\n

Since then the Edinburgh start-up has signed a R&D agreement with Dutch lifting multi-national Huisman to develop a 250kW concept demonstrator and test it in the Netherlands and Scotland early next year.<\/p>\n

\"Gravity<\/a>
Gravitricity energy storage system may offer lower cost of energy storage than batteries. Particularly suited to grid balancing and rapid frequency response services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The report (which is available only on request) suggests that Gravitricity technology will be particularly well-suited to provide grid balancing and rapid frequency response services to grid operators \u2013 where the requirement for multiple short cycles and high power availability play to Gravitricity\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n

The detailed study factors in all relevant cost and performance factors including capex, operating costs, discount rate, depth of discharge and degradation over a 25-year lifespan to arrive at an annualised power Levelised Cost of Energy Storage (LCOS), quoted in US$\/kWyear.<\/p>\n

In a frequency response scenario \u2013 requiring 700 cycles per year and a duration of 15 minutes at a power output of 4MW \u2013 Gravitricity has a predicted LCOS of US$141\/kWyear, outperforming all alternatives.<\/p>\n

Key findings<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Low specific power cost and high cyclability represent the key advantage of Gravitricity<\/p>\n

* Ideally suited to frequency response market and any application with multiple daily cycles<\/p>\n

* The higher initial opex is offset by very long lifespan (up to 50 years), high power availability, 100 per cent depth of discharge and zero percent degradation<\/p>\n

Commenting on the report Gravitricity<\/a><\/span> Managing Director Charlie Blair, says: \u201cThis independent report clearly shows that Gravitricity can be a very strong competitor in the frequency response market, where its low specific power cost and high cyclability sets it apart from other technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cLithium batteries are just beginning to be a major provider of frequency response services around the world and we expect early Gravitricity projects to take an increasing proportion of this market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe report also validates our belief that in the medium term, energy storage projects will need to stack multiple revenues to be cost effective. Mechanical systems such as ours are very good at this, as we can cycle several times per day with no degradation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report was authored by Oliver Schmidt, a specialist in predicting battery storage cost reductions. He has published recently in Nature Energy and is currently on secondment to the International Energy Agency in Paris.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cThe study has been rigorous in comparing all technologies on a level playing field. We have investigated a number of sensitivities, including discount rate, project duration and expected cost reductions using industry-specific learning rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cGravitricty has high upfront capex, but a 50-year design life. It is therefore sensitive to the discount rate and the modelled lifespan of 25 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we model a shorter response duration, a lower discount rate or a longer project life, then Gravitricity looks more competitive.\u00a0 I don\u2019t expect Gravitricity to displace all lithium batteries on grids, but it certainly looks like a compelling proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair concludes: \u201cThe cost data used in this study is for Gravitricity\u2019s first-of-a-kind project. We know battery costs are coming down fast, but our costs will drop even faster at first.\u00a0 The most encouraging conclusion is that we will be even more competitive in 2025 than we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gravitricity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gravitricity uses a heavy weight \u2013 up to 2000 tonnes \u2013 suspended in a deep shaft by cables attached to winches. When there is excess electricity, for example on a windy day, the weight is winched to the top of the shaft ready to generate power.<\/p>\n

This weight can then be released when required \u2013 in less than a second \u2013 and the winches become generators, producing either a large burst of electricity quickly, or releasing it more slowly depending on what is needed.<\/p>\n

Unlike batteries, the Gravitricity system can operate for decades without any degradation or reduction in performance.<\/p>\n

The idea of using gravity to store energy is not new. Britain already relies on a number of pumped storage hydro schemes, such as Ben Cruachan, where water is pumped uphill to be released when required.<\/p>\n

The start-up plans to build models from 1 to 20MW, and estimates each \u2018Gravitricity Energy Storage System\u2019 will last up to 50 years. They are currently short-listing a number of disused mine shafts for their first full-scale working prototype in 2019\/20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A report by independent analysts at Imperial College London predicts that Gravitricity\u2019s gravity energy storage system may offer a better long-term cost of energy storage than batteries or other alternatives \u2013 particularly in grid balancing and rapid frequency response services. Gravitricity uses a massive weight suspended in mine shafts to capture power and then release …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,1],"tags":[3165,2286,3764,3163,3763],"class_list":["post-6758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-design","category-process","tag-energy-storage","tag-gravitricity","tag-gravity-energy-storage","tag-huisman","tag-imperial-college-london"],"yoast_head":"\nGravity energy storage \u2018cheaper than lithium batteries\u2019 - Engineer News Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Report by analysts at Imperial College London shows levelised cost of storage (LCOS) of gravity energy storage system is lower than all alternatives, including Lithium-ion\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/gravity-energy-storage-cheaper-than-lithium-batteries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gravity energy storage \u2018cheaper than lithium batteries\u2019 - 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