Electrification and decarbonisation of our society puts new demands on the electric system – mainly grid-scale energy storage. Mine Storage is a company with a vision and commitment to enable a zero-carbon grid by using underground mines to store energy and to balance the grid.
If we are to have a functional energy system in the future, we need a massive increase in energy storage. Why is this the case?
Today, almost a third of the global CO2 emissions come from fossil-based electricity production. To reduce emissions, a switch to renewables is urgently needed.
In addition, the electrification of fossil-dependent industries and the transport sector will require us to increase energy production by 60 % compared to today, which also calls for a massive increase of renewables.
By 2040, the need for renewable energy is estimated to be seven times as high as it is today.
Today, only 3 % of all generated power is stored, and traditional pumped hydro storage accounts for more than 90 % of the stored power. To enable the energy transition 660 billion USD will be invested in energy storage by 2040
The challenge with energy storage systems has until now been that they are associated with a negative impact on the environment, or that they are not proven and mature. Mine storage solves both these issues.
Flexible Grid-Scale Energy Storages that Supports a Zero-Carbon Grid
Given the compelling business case, the high round trip efficiency and the long lifespan of a mine storage, the levelized cost of energy storage (LCOS) is very competitive.
There are more than 1 million decommissioned mines in the world, fairly evenly spread out, meaning mine storages can be built to support the energy system in most regions. Generally, it is the regional demand for energy storage that limits the number of mine storages, not the availability of suitable mines.
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A mine storage uses the cleanest media, water, and the most reliable power, gravity, to accomplish an energy storage system. The height difference between two reservoirs is what allows for energy to be stored by pumping water from the lower to the higher reservoir, and later released by the water passing the power equipment in the machine hall.
There are roughly a million closed mines registered in the global database mindat.org. All of them are not suitable for mine storages, but the availability of mines is not a limitation. On the contrary, they have significant global spread, and we also see opportunity for the use of mines still in operation.
Mines with a minimum of 50 meter, “head”, which is the expression for height difference in the hydropower industry, can be suitable. The size of reservoirs depends on several parameters, most importantly for which application we plan to use the mine storage. The mines are assessed as part of our Mine Storage WoW (Way of Working) that also includes looking at parameters such as mine type, design, proximity to a grid connection. We use our mining expertise in the mine assessment. Different mines may require different measures as part of the physical conversion to a mine storage.
This is site-specific, meaning in some parts of the world, we can use existing ground water and in other parts the “first fill” may be a critical question, which needs to be resolved and cost estimated as part of the overall CapEx (Capital Expenditure).
All our business development is based on finding profitable business cases. Given that there are different revenue opportunities and different needs on different markets we have no fixed size limits. There are no limitations in size from technical point of view, and the beauty of mine storage is that the increase of energy is water and reservoir space, thus low-cost components compared to other energy storage systems.
One strong market position for a mine storage is grid-scale energy storage (15 MW up to several hundred MW). Regarding energy ratings, we typically see 50 MWh as the lower starting point and again, the business case defines how high we go.
Our first mine storage will be in operational in 2025-2026.
That depends on the needs of the area and market. If grid-scale bulk storage is needed, a mine storage with its huge capacity is much more suitable than a battery park. A mine storage can discharge energy for a longer period of time and with more power.
A mine storage is the grid scale energy storage equivalent of a swizz army knife. It can trade on many different markets, for example electricity trade arbitrage and/or ancillary services such as grid frequency control. Fast-response, grid-scale energy storage will be a crucial component in the future energy system, given that the demand for energy and the share of intermittent renewable energy production keeps growing.
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