Recently, a study was published in the academic journal energy, which believes that mountain gravity energy storage (MGEs) may be a feasible way to store electric energy for a longer time and on a larger scale.

At the time of the great popularity of electrochemical energy storage based on electric vehicle batteries, there are many dazzling forms of energy storage being developed or ready for commercial use. Like large-scale pumped storage, mountain gravity energy storage (MGEs) uses gravitational potential energy as a means of energy storage. According to the research report published by the International Research Institute of Austrian Science Group (IIASA), the use of mountains for energy storage can be combined with hydropower generation, which is economically attractive to microgrids, islands and areas with high power costs.

The researchers pointed out that the operation principle of mountain gravity energy storage (MGEs) is roughly as follows: a mobile system similar to a ski cable car can pull a container filled with sand to a crane on the top of the mountain, and then the sand is sent back to the bottom of the mountain because of gravity, generating electricity in the process.

It is understood that this concept is similar to the gravity energy storage technology proposed by the Swiss company energy vault, which generates electricity by reducing the gravity of the concrete block in the tower. The company recently obtained more than US $100million of equity investment from Softbank's vision fund, which shows that gravity energy storage technology is indeed profitable.

Some people believe that lithium-ion batteries are the fastest-growing type of energy storage. Utility companies across the United States have purchased battery energy storage to support intermittent renewable energy. However, the time for energy storage and deployment is usually 4 hours or less, which is not enough to invest more and more solar and wind energy resources.

Daniel Finn Foley of wood Mackenzie's energy storage department believes that the "scalability" of lithium-ion batteries is very poor. The cost will double every time the service life of the lithium-ion battery system is doubled. He said: "according to the regulations of many states, the high renewable energy grid requires a very long time of energy storage, which may take 10-20 hours to convert solar energy for use at night and on cloudy days, and even takes weeks or months to convert energy from high wind months to low wind months. The authors of IIASA study believe that mountain gravity energy storage (MGEs) provides the possibility of long-term energy storage in some areas.

Using the same gravitational potential energy, what is the difference between mountain gravity energy storage (MGEs) and pumped storage? Firstly, pumped storage is one of the most common and main energy storage methods at present. It is a long-term energy storage method. The storage time can be arranged as 6 to 20 hours. However, pumped storage is limited by geographical location and high cost. One of the advantages of the mountain gravitational potential energy (MGEs) system is that the material is sand, which is cheap, has no flood season and will not evaporate. Therefore, this potential energy will never disappear. It can be used countless times. In addition, the height difference of pumped storage power station is limited to 1200 meters, while the height difference of mountain gravity energy storage (MGEs) may exceed 5000 meters.

According to the modeling of Molokai island in Hawaii, mountain gravity energy storage (MGEs), wind energy, solar energy and battery energy storage can meet the energy demand of the island. Mountain gravity energy storage (MGEs) plays a role in filling the gap between peak power generation and short-term battery cycle.

Although there are no other storage technologies that can surpass the "critical point" of lithium-ion batteries, various energy storage technologies are still being developed, and opinions vary. No one knows who will be the king of the future energy storage world. As Jason burwen, vice president of the energy storage association, said, "there are many potential energy storage technologies under development. You can't predict which energy storage technology will dominate the market in the next 20 years."

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