Storage · 2025 · Video
Gravity energy storage
Lift a mass with surplus solar or wind; lower it when the grid needs the kWh. A mechanical battery. Useful where height exists and duration matters more than energy density.
How to use gravity to store energy
Gravity storage converts electrical energy into potential energy: a winch raises a weight in a shaft or a tower, and lowering the weight turns a generator. Round-trip efficiency is typically in the 70–85 percent band. There is no chemical degradation in the sense a lithium cell has, but there is civil and mechanical wear.
Companies have tried towers of composite blocks and the reuse of mine shafts. Neither is a house battery. The use-case is long-duration support at a plant or a park, hours, not seconds, where land or a void already exists.
For a Kerala brief the honest test is still pumped hydro if a head and a reservoir are present. Gravity towers should be compared on rupees per kWh of storage, not on novelty.
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