Green Gravity

Energy storage systems are lifelines for power grids to balance energy demand and supply and compensate for the intermittent nature of renewable energies. But conventional energy storage solutions, like hydroelectric energy storage, lithium-ion batteries, and mechanical and thermal energy storage, are costly and unsustainable solutions in the long run.

Green Gravity has found an unconventional way to store excess grid power. The company is repurposing millions of abandoned mines worldwide and harnessing the fundamental principles of gravity and kinetic energy to store and dispatch energy.

The green gravity technology is simple. When there’s excess energy in the grid, it uses the energy to turn the turbines in legacy mineshafts and lift heavy weights upwards. The reeling action generates kinetic energy in the weights, and when it comes to a rest at the surface, the energy is transformed and stored in the gravitational potential of the mass. When the grid requires energy again, the weights are lowered, turning the turbine to generate electricity back to the grid.

This technology is revolutionary, and at the same time, sustainable, because mineshafts were built using circular economic thinking. It’s also more cost-effective than conventional energy storage solutions, as it doesn’t need to be made from scratch. Green Gravity uses the drop height already present in a module of the mineshaft. It even creates new value for unused mines and lowers the cost of their rehabilitation.

“Our cutting-edge gravitational en¬ergy storage technology also benefits the environment as it supports a rapid reduction in carbon emissions,” says Mark Swinnerton, founder and CEO of Green Gravity.

Green Gravity caters to a wide range of customers, remote mine sites being the most common. A lot of power is required to run winders and mills that aren’t connected to the main electrical grid. Green Gravity offers a localized energy storage system that can be combined with solar and wind sources to decarbonize the operation while lowering costs.

Other clients include energy producers that seek Green Gravity’s infrastructure to balance the supply and demand of renewable or carbon-based energy. They want to increase the share of renewable energy in their portfolio and reduce coal and gas-based electricity production. If their grids are close to idle mines, Green Gravity can help them utilize that infrastructure to charge and discharge as needed to balance the energy supply and demand.

Even renewable energy producers near idle mines can leverage Green Gravity’s technology to obtain a better price for their electricity. When the price is low, they can charge the energy into Green Gravity’s gravitational energy storage system, and discharge it when the price goes up.

Green Gravity is currently making considerable investments in its digital footprint to speed up the development of its portfolio. Apart from working with mines to install a full-scale system in shafts, it is investing in new test facilities to improve products. Through these endeavors, Green Gravity aims to become a global leader in repurposing old mines to finding sustainable ways of storing green energy for the future.