Estimates suggest abandoned mine shafts could store enough electricity to power the planet

An abandoned mine in Finland is set to be transformed into a giant battery to store renewable energy during periods of excess production.

The Pyhäsalmi Mine, roughly 450 kilometres north of Helsinki, is Europe’s deepest zinc and copper mine and holds the potential to store up to 2 MW of energy within its 1,400-metre-deep shafts.

The disused mine will be fitted with a gravity battery, which uses excess energy from renewable sources like solar and wind in order to lift a heavy weight. During periods of low production, the weight is released and used to power a turbine as it drops.

  • LanternEverywhere@kbin.social
    71·
    11 months ago

    That’s similar but different in a lot of meaningful ways. Hydro pumping like that requires a relatively large body of water next to a large geographical height right nearby. This new system doesn’t require any water, and it uses a man made hole in the ground that’s already been created and which otherwise would be simply unused

    • Adalast@lemmy.world
      51·
      11 months ago

      Bonus, it starts fully charged since the weight is inserted at the apex of the battery instead of having to be lifted.

    • sizzler@lemmy.world
      62·
      11 months ago

      It’s what we call a double whammy. Paid to remove the metals and then paid for the hole you’ve made.

        • sizzler@lemmy.world
          41·
          11 months ago

          Oh interesting, I can see how whammy could be considered negative, but I’ve always heard it used in a positive way.

            • swab148@startrek.website
              4·
              11 months ago

              It was definitely a bad thing in “Press Your Luck”, the game show where the term was coined. The “Whammy” was a little monster who took all your money.

            • sizzler@lemmy.world
              1·
              11 months ago

              Even from your link there’s someone using it in a positive way so clearly not mate lol.

                • sizzler@lemmy.world
                  2·
                  11 months ago

                  “How to use Whammy in a sentence” 5th one down is “I love being able to sing for my job and its my passion to so it’s a double whammy”

                  Edit: funnily enough, keep scrolling and you have the British dictionary definition and let’s face it you are speaking English. There it directly says, “something which has great, often negative, impact”

                  So right there in your link, it’s not always negative.