Gravitricity receives further funding for gravity energy storage feasibility study

Scotland-based Gravitricity said on February 23 that it had received support from the British government for a £1.5 million ($1.9 million) feasibility study to develop a multi-weight gravity energy storage system at a brownfield site in northern England.

The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has provided a grant of more than £912,000 for the project, in which Gravitricity will work with partner companies to carry out front-end engineering design (FEED) for a 4MWh, multi-weight system using a custom shaft.

The project aims to pave the way for the construction of a full-scale commercial multi-weight gravity energy storage prototype at a grid-connected site in northern England.

“Net Zero”

Meanwhile, Gravitricity said it is also moving forward with plans to build “a full-scale single-weight project in an abandoned mine on the European continent”, which would begin this year, but it did not provide details.

Funding for the FEED study was allocated through the BEIS competitive funding scheme, which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative energy storage projects that can contribute to net zero.

The company said that analysts at Imperial College expect its patented multi-weight gravity energy storage concept to provide long-duration energy storage at a lower cost than alternative technologies, including lithium-ion batteries.

The feasibility project follows a 250kW demonstration project in Leith, Edinburgh, in 2021.

"low cost"

Managing director Charlie Blair said: “Our multi-weight concept has been proven by the Leith demonstrator, with two 25-tonne counterweights configured to operate independently, enabling smooth and continuous output when lowered one after the other.

“We were able to demonstrate round-trip efficiencies of over 80 percent and the ability to ramp up to full power in less than a second.”

Blair said gravity systems with multi-weights offer a lower cost per MWh of energy storage, with more weights providing more mass (or MWh) while the number of lifts in the system – “which makes up a large part of the cost of the asset” – does not increase.

“This project will demonstrate the use and control of a multi-weight system using one set of lifting equipment and pave the way for custom projects that can be built wherever they are needed,” Blair said.

Modular system

Phase 2 of the project will see Gravitricity begin construction of the first commercial prototype system, located at a grid connection site in the north of England. The company expects that the mechanical design and optimisation of the large lifting equipment used for rapid response applications will be directly transferable from this project to all future applications, as will the control systems currently being developed.

As production increases in the future, Gravitricity and its partners intend to produce modular systems, which will significantly reduce manufacturing costs. With multiple schemes underway, the group will be able to purchase and operate its own shaft sinking equipment, saving significant capital and further reducing the cost of energy storage.

(Source: Gravitricity Global Energy Storage Network, New Energy Network Comprehensive)