Storage Gravitational Energy for Small Scale Industrial and Residential Applications

Abstract

Photovoltaic cells produce electric energy in a short interval during a period of low demand and show high levels of intermittency. One of the well-known solutions is to store the energy and convert it into a more stable form, to transform again into electricity during periods of high demand, in which the energy has a higher value. This process provides economic viability for most energy-storage projects, even for the least efficient and most common, such as batteries. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a storage system that operates with gravitational potential energy, considering a small-scale use. The development of this methodology presents the mathematical modeling of the system and compares the main characteristics with other systems. The dimensions of the considered system are 12-m shaft, 5-m piston height, and 4 m of diameter; it presented an energy storage of 11 kWh. Also, it has an efficiency of about 90%, a lifetime of 50 years, and higher storage densities compared to other systems.

Review on Energy Storage Systems in Microgrids

“…Gravitational energy storage system (GESS) [45,46]: It is a device stores renewable energy or pumped hydropower in the form of gravitational potential energy. The gravity power is based on a huge underground piston, which is lifted hydraulically to store energy and then released to push water through a turbine.…”

Installation resilience in cold regions using energy storage systems

“…Their planned project in Nevada will be capable of delivering 50 MW of power and 12.5 MWh of capacity. This project will require a 9.3 km rail line and 707,604 kg in weighted rail cars (Ruoso et al 2019).…”

“…GPMs have the potential to store hundreds of megawatt-hours in a small footprint, which makes it an option in areas that are more densely populated (Galant et al 2013). This also makes it one of the more power-dense storage systems (Ruoso et al 2019). A group of GPMs could also be installed to achieve higher storage capacity.…”

Inclusão da Gravitricidade como Sistema de Armazenamento de Energia na Formulação de um Controlador Central de Microrredes baseado em CPBM

“…Atualmente, as energias renováveis são constantemente discutidas em diversasáreas de pesquisa pelo mundo. Tais pesquisas acompanham a crescente demanda por energia elétrica de fontes não fósseis e com um fator de impacto ambiental reduzido (IEA, 2020;Ruoso et al, 2019). Além disso,é interessante que países incluam, fomentem e otimizem essas fontes energéticas em sua infraestrutura, uma vez que os benefícios dessas tecnologias deixam o sistema elétrico com uma maior confiança e segurança pelo aumento da diversificação energética (Mooney and Kroposki, 2009;Mohd et al, 2008).…”

“…Outras tecnologias de SAEs são estudadas e até amplamente utilizadas em conjunto com as microrredes, comoé o caso de baterias de lítio presente nos sistemas de energia fotovoltaicos de forma usual (Berrueta et al, 2018;Ruoso et al, 2019). Amirante et al (2017) e Shively et al (2008) discutem sobre alguns métodos de armazenamento de energia para integração de energias renováveis, enquanto que Schimidt (2018) faz uma análise comparativa do custo de alguns dos SAEs mais utilizados com um sistema semelhante ao da Gravitricidade, porém utilizando princípios e mecanismos hidráulicos para uma melhor transferência de energia.…”