Could rocks play a key role in the clean energy transition?
That’s what the folks at Sandia National Laboratories and CSolPower hope.
They’re attempting to integrate renewable energy with an electrically charged thermal energy storage system. The primary component of the system: rocks.
And the system doesn’t require any special kind of rock. According to Sandia’s mechanical engineer, gravel from landscaping companies will suffice.
CSolPower’s co-founder Walter Gerstle noted that, “one of the advantages of thermal energy storage in rocks is that it can be built anywhere,” As important, he stressed that rocks don’t “require extensive permitting” and theoretically can be deployed quicker and more economically than other approaches.
Amen to that.
During the testing of the rock-based contraption, the bed was exposed to air temperatures of 500 degrees C (900 degrees F) and the system was able to sustain that temperature for up to 20 hours.
To date, the system has performed as expected. Testing will continue until June 2024. Let’s hope it continues to perform as expected.
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