Gravity Batteries and their future

How it all started

I was reading about sustainable development, and I was downright surprised to see the editor write that 'Electricity using renewable energy is our only hope' (not the exact words, but they converge to the same meaning). The reason I was startled by this statement was because I found it difficult to digest. I know that solar energy and wind energy are taking the world by storm, which is not overwhelming, considering the fact that they are cheap and more profoundly found. The reason I was overwhelmed was the fact that they cannot produce electricity all day, right?

The doubt I had...

Consider solar energy. It can produce energy only during the day. But what should we do at night? We need constant and consistent electricity at all times of our day. But that is the reason why we are using wind energy, right? Well, as much as it hurts me to say this, wind energy is not constant as well. They require steady flow of wind to generate consistent energy. If nature decides to quit upon us, then that's that. So, what is the solution for getting consistent renewal energy which does not depend upon anything except factors that are existing at all times. Well, I searched that up, and the result I got was interesting.

The solution

I came upon a company page called Gravitricity Ltd and they make batteries that generate electricity using gravity? That's right, they generate power using gravity. In 2021, they made a prototype of a gravity battery that produced electricity enough to power a whole village for some few seconds. It produced a max power output of 250kW. Now, you might be wondering what a gravity battery is.

The functioning

A gravity battery is just a concept that used gravity to produce energy. To do this, a tower is built. Inside the tower, we need to add some weight to a rope that runs through a pulley to an electric motor. Using external power sources, the weight is lifted to the top of the tower. Then, the motor is set to generator mode where the motor is no longer lifting the weight. Immediately, by Newton's discovery, the weight starts dropping to the ground gradually. This way, electricity is produced. Another question pops into our mind. We still need external power sources to ramp up the weight to store all the potential energy. Well, the motors use the excess power outputs given by solar energy and wind energy. The gravity batteries are safer to the environment.

Negative Consequences

Well, this is amazing, right? There are some negatives like in every other solution.

• Gravity batteries require immense amount of infrastructure and property management. It also may not have the round-trip efficiency to call it efficient.
• The construction of large gravity battery systems may have localized environmental impacts, such as habitat disruption and visual pollution.
• These factors must be carefully managed to minimize negative consequences.

Future Plans

Gravity batteries provide us with a promising future. It has a very demanding market, and it also has immense amount of funding for its development. Gravitricity Ltd has made a plan of using abandoned coal mines as their infrastructure for gravity batteries. This is actually improving their future because coal mines can reach up to 100km below the ground. To get more energy out of the battery, we need to increase the weight, and the height and coal mines seem like an ideal development idea. This has an immense scope in the future that everyone could look at.

The final statement

In conclusion, gravity batteries offer a unique and innovative approach to energy storage, harnessing the power of gravity to provide a sustainable and long-lasting solution. As technology advances and infrastructure challenges are overcome, gravity batteries have the potential to play a significant role in the future of energy storage, helping to build a more resilient and sustainable energy grid.