Finland steps up renewable energy adoption with focus on sand batteries.
In the heart of Finland, nestled 270 kilometres northwest of Helsinki, lies the town of Kankaanpää, home to a remarkable innovation in renewable energy storage. This town, with a population of 13,000, is now powered by a sand-filled tank that provides district heating, thanks to a Finnish startup named Polar Night Energy.
Polar Night Energy specialises in sand batteries, a unique energy storage system that uses sand as a medium for thermal energy storage. These batteries are starting to gain traction during the transition to renewable energy sources, offering a promising solution for storing excess electricity as heat during periods of surplus energy production.
The structure in question is a 4-meter by 7-meter steel tank, filled with approximately 100 tons of sand. This tank, which has been supplying district heating for Kankaanpää since last year, is a testament to the practical scalability of sand batteries for district heating and renewable integration in cold climates.
Sand batteries work by converting electricity from renewable sources like solar or wind into heat energy stored in sand at high temperatures (up to 500°C). This method stores energy as sensible heat rather than chemical energy, allowing for large-capacity, long-lasting, low-maintenance storage with high energy retention (over 90%) and excellent safety due to sand's abundance, non-toxicity, and non-flammability.
By storing thermal energy in this way, sand batteries enable the release of heat to provide heating or hot water, effectively balancing intermittent renewable supply and demand. This helps reduce reliance on fossil fuels in heating systems, increasing the sustainability and cost-efficiency of renewable energy use.
The success of Kankaanpää's sand battery system is not an isolated incident. Polar Night Energy's sand batteries are also being used in Italy, demonstrating the global potential of this innovative technology. As the world transitions towards renewable energy, sand batteries are playing a significant role in addressing the challenge of cost-effective, durable, and safe energy storage that complements renewable energy systems, especially in energy-intensive and cold regions like Finland.
[1] Sand Battery: A Promising Energy Storage Solution for the Grid - IRENA [2] Sand Battery Success Story in Kankaanpää, Finland - Polar Night Energy [3] Sand Batteries: A New Era in Renewable Energy Storage - Euractiv
- The renewable energy industry is taking notice of sand batteries, with Polar Night Energy's innovative solution gaining traction as a promising solution for storing excess electricity as heat during periods of surplus renewable energy production, providing a means to balance intermittent renewable supply and demand, thus increasing the sustainability and cost-efficiency of renewable energy use, as demonstrated by the success in Kankaanpää, Finland.
- In the financial aspect, investments in sand batteries, like Polar Night Energy's sand batteries, are seen as a strategic move towards secure and cost-effective energy storage solutions, as these batteries offer high energy retention, excellent safety, and high scalability, particularly beneficial for energy-intensive regions like Finland, contributing significantly to the global transition towards renewable energy.
