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Finland’s Polar Night Energy launches world’s largest sand battery
The commercial thermal storage system is designed to hold 100 MWh and use superheated air to deliver power on demand to a district heating operator.
Utilities face grid instability as wind and solar output fluctuates, and OilPrice reports that one workaround is pairing renewables with storage or fast-response generation. Finland’s Polar Night Energy is using a different approach, deploying sand batteries that store excess renewable energy for later release.
According to OilPrice, Polar Night Energy has constructed the world’s largest commercial sand battery, a high-temperature thermal energy storage system with a capacity of 100 MWh. The industrial silo, located in Pornainen in southern Finland, is 13 meters tall and contains 2,000 metric tons of crushed soapstone, sourced from a byproduct of local fireplace manufacturing.
OilPrice says the battery was commissioned by district heating company Loviisan Lämpö and is connected to the power grid to charge during periods of abundant wind and solar generation. When energy is needed, the system heats air using a resistive heating element and circulates it through embedded pipes in a closed-loop design to release stored thermal energy on demand.