Gravitricity to build a demonstration site in India

23 November 2022 News

A new project aims to identify how gravity energy storage can help decarbonise one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Scottish energy storage specialists Gravitricity have secured funding to find a demonstration site in India suitable for their gravity energy storage technology.

Gravitricity has developed an innovative energy storage system which works by raising heavy weights, totalling up to 12 000 tons, in a deep shaft and then releasing them when energy is required. It could be ideally suited to India, which has set a target to install over 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, to supply its fast-growing economy. This rapid increase in variable renewable generation, much of it solar, will bring with it a need for energy storage.

Analysts calculate Gravitricity’s system, which has an operational lifespan of up to 50 years, can store energy at half the cost of lithium-ion batteries. Already the green tech pioneers are planning to install their invention in decommissioned mineshafts and custom-built shafts in the UK and mainland Europe.

The Edinburgh firm has now partnered with India energy specialists Panitek Power in the 12-month project to identify a shortlist of sites for a demonstration scheme.

Chris Yendell, project development manager at Gravitricity states, “India has very few fossil fuel resources and is committed to adopting renewables to fuel its economic growth. Solar power is extremely cheap in such a sunny country but brings with it a need for energy storage to meet peak morning and evening demand, both of which typically occur during the hours of darkness.”

The project is being supported by the Energy Catalyst Round 9 – Early-Stage competition. In this scheme Innovate UK will work with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as part of the Ayrton Fund to invest up to £20 million in innovation projects which will accelerate the innovations needed to create new or improved clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or Indo-Pacific regions.

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