The Energy System is under Transformation

The world is undergoing the fastest and most significant shift in modern history. Fossil based energy production is replaced with renewables such as wind power and solar, boosted by a substantial electrification on the demand side of the energy system. This combination can provide 90 % of the CO2 reductions by 2050. With more intermittent, i.e. weather dependent electricity production comes a major challenge.

Our electrical systems, the power grids, are not built to handle a large share of intermittent energy production. Solutions to the challenge are demand control, increasing grid capacity, peak shaving, curtailment, and fast-response large scale storage to solve power and balancing problems. Energy Storage is needed and there is only one fast-response, large scale solution with mature technology – Mine Storage

Rapid We need Mature and Large Scale Energy Storage Solutions

Today, only 3 % of all generated power is stored, and traditional pumped hydro storage accounts for more than 94 % of the stored power. The energy storage market faces a drastic growth during the next 20 years. According to BloombergNEF it is estimated that 660 billion USD will be invested in energy storage solutions by 2040 with China and United States as the largest markets. The important drivers for the growing storage market globally are environmental regulation towards green 

technologies, the availability of sustainable capital, and the availability of proven and environmentally sustainable technology. According to the International Hydropower Association the increasing penetration of wind and solar, reduced dispatchable generation and the need for greater grid flexibility, drives an additional 78,000 MW or an increase of nearly 50 per cent of pumped hydro storage capacity by 2030. Mine Storage answers to this need as there are 500 000 – 1 000 000 abandoned mines in the world where our solution can be deployed.

Electrical Energy

Storage Technologies

There are several energy storage technologies under development or on the market today, all with different attributes and maturity level. Electrical energy storage systems can be divided into mechanical, chemical batteries, and electromagnetic solutions. Except for traditional pumped hydro storage, the challenge with these technologies are that some of them are associated with a negative impact on the environment, or that they are not proven and mature. Another drawback is that there are only a few that can provide scale with long discharge times combined with fast response times. Pumps and turbines have been on the market for decades, and in fact the first pumped hydro plant was deployed already in 1929. 

Traditional Pumped Hydro Power is the only technology having all the attributes of maturity, significant discharge times, a high power-rating, fast response times, a long lifespan, and a high round-efficiency of 70-80 %. With all these attributes traditional pumped hydro storage systems provides the lowest levelized cost of storage. However, traditional Pumped Hydro deployments require natural height differences in the environment, and also has a high environmental impact as new open-pit dams need to be constructed.

Mine storage takes all the advantages of Pumped Hydro Power and applies it in underground mines, thus taking unused mines and giving them a new and positive purpose!