Once the crane arm locates and hooks onto a concrete block, a motor starts, powered by the excess electricity on the grid, and lifts the block off the ground. [Designed to withstand wind, the crane arm] can smoothly lift the block, and then place it on top of another stack of blocks—higher up off the ground. The system is “fully charged” when the crane has created a tower of concrete blocks around it. — Quartz
A tower of the concrete blocks — weighing 35 metric tons each — can store a maximum of 20 megawatt-hours (MWh), which Energy Vault says is enough to power 2,000 Swiss homes for an entire day. According to Quartz, the Swiss startup is planning to build their first commercial plants starting early 2019.
2 Comments
The Sisyphus machine.
Better yet. Use discarded barges or trawlers to get a FREE lift twice a day using Bay of Fundy tides. I am a clock maker who has oft been scoffed at for the obvious energy storage capability of a suspended weight such as a tall case clock utilizes.
Abandoned mine shafts would be another place (windproof) to store suspended weights full of potential energy. Mirrored solar furnace steam engines or windmills could lessen the dependance on over production of hydro electricity.
So glad to see somebody FINALLY doing something like this!!!! Use my ideas at will for the good of humanity.
God Bless
Paul M. Blackmore
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