Sand-Based Electric Batteries

'Polar Night Energy,' a Finnish innovation startup, unveiled a new battery power storage solution that leverages sand. The device is a large tower that Polar Night Energy filled with over 100 tons of sand. While this is not a battery in a traditional sense, the startup claims that the sand can be superheated by a mix of solar-power and other energy inputs. Then, once the sand is heated, it will remain super-heated through renewable energy sources for many months, resulting in a reliable power source.

The super-heated sand tower does not deliver direct AC or DC energy outputs, but rather it offers heat, which must be converted to a usable energy source. This is a difficult and oftentimes expensive process, but the low cost of creating the sand tower itself results in an overall affordable energy storage solution for many regions.

Polar Night Energy stated that the largest application of the sand tower is the storage of renewable energy from solar and wind grids that often dump excess energy. This results in more scalable renewable energy that provides more reliable power output over time, especially during downtimes such as non-windy days or long nights.