Overview

As the severe consequences of generating electrical energy from fossil fuels is being realised, the transition to renewable energy sources like wind and solar is an obvious imperative. But what happens when there’s no wind blowing and no sun shining? To deal with this intermittency of renewable energy generation, it is essential to store surplus energy during periods of excessive generation to support the grid during periods of under-generation.

A wide array of systems to store energy are being developed, each with their respective ‘pros’ and ‘cons’, eg Li-Ion batteries have industry-leading energy density, however incorporate rare earth metals; have poor discharge rates; and incorporate the risk of explosion. Therefore, it is increasingly clear it will take a network of storage solutions to aid the renewable energy transition.

Gravitricity proposes the storage of energy in two major forms:

• Gravity batteries: incorporate the raising and lowering of very large weights (hundreds or thousands of tonnes) within vertical subterranean shafts (both disused mine shafts and purpose-sunk shafts), using surplus power to raise the weight and export power by lowering the weight.
• Compressed hydrogen: after surplus renewable energy is used to generate green hydrogen from electrolysis, the hydrogen is subsequently pumped, at an elevated pressure, into a lined subterranean shaft and stored until such time there is the demand - at which, the hydrogen is diverted to an electrochemical cell and converted back into electricity.

Speaker

Gavin Edwards, Lead Mechanical Engineer, Gravitricity

Gavin graduated in 2012 from the University of Glasgow in mechanical design engineering and has over 11 years of bespoke, engineering experience.

He was originally in offshore handling systems (multi-million-pound, international projects, usually considering the launch of recovery of offshore applications such as pipeline/submarines/lifeboats/subsea ploughs, from tens to thousands of tonnes), including: Indian Navy submarine LARS; Nippon saturation diving LARS; South Korean submarine communication buoy winch arrangement.

Gavin moved to Gravitricity in 2020 in engineering designs incorporated within the successful deployment of 250kW Demonstrator in 2021 and ongoing investigations into opportunities for gravity lift systems and hydrogen storage in energy markets worldwide.

The material presented in this webinar has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter's own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Clean Energy Special Interest Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.

Time

09:00–10:00 BST.

Software

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Webinar archive

This webinar is free of charge and open to all to attend, but if you wish to access the slides and a recording to replay on demand then you will need to be a member of the Clean Energy Special Interest Group.