The innovations solving renewable energy’s biggest problem
Switching to renewable energy is key to tackling the climate crisis, but wind and solar energy rely heavily on the weather, creating an inconsistent power supply. Nant de Drance is part of a new generation of "water batteries" which could accelerate the transition by storing energy and stabilizing the electricity grid. Using the latest technology, including variable-speed pumped turbines (pictured), Nant de Drance has a storage capacity equivalent to 400,000 electric vehicle batteries. Find out about more storage solutions for renewable energy
Nant de Drance/Sébastien Moret
Located high in the Swiss Alps, Nant de Drance is a pumped storage hydropower plant that stores energy and generates electricity by moving water between higher and lower reservoirs.
Nant de Drance/Sébastien Moret
Water isn't the only way to store energy, though. American-Swiss startup Energy Vault designed a giant mechanical energy storage system that uses gravity and 35-ton bricks to store and generate energy. In this prototype, a crane powered by surplus electricity raises the bricks, and then lowers them to release kinetic energy back to the grid.
Energy Vault
Now, Energy Vault is exploring how to scale up its technology. Instead of towering cranes, the company is pivoting to "Resiliency Centers," as shown in this rendering, in which the bricks would be moved up and down on trolley systems controlled by artificial intelligence.
Arqui9 Visualisation/Energy Vault
Finnish company Polar Night Energy has installed the world's first fully functional "sand battery" which stores energy generated by solar and wind power as heat in an insulated silo packed with 100 tons of sand.
Polar Night Energy
Another method for storing electricity is compressing air. Surplus power is used to compress air and store it under pressure in subterranean caverns. It is then released through a turbine to generate electricity when demand is high. Canadian energy company Hydrostor is currently building a compressed air energy storage facility in California, pictured here in a render.
Hydrostor Inc.
Researchers at MIT are developing an electrochemical battery they say can offer grid-scale backup for renewable power sources. With a consistency "like soft-serve ice cream" the semi-solid flow battery uses the positive and negative ions of different chemicals to charge and store energy. Batteries are often made with expensive chemicals, but the lab found success with zinc and manganese dioxide, which it says offer a cheaper alternative.
Thaneer Narayanan/MIT
Building giant batteries isn't the only way to manage renewable energy demands. Sharing electricity across long distances using interconnectors can help countries move power when production exceeds local demand. For example, renewable energy in the UK comes predominantly from wind (pictured), while in Norway, hydropower is the main source of clean electricity. The $1.6 billion North Sea Link project, which launched last year, will allow the two countries to share electricity and balance out the varying supply of each renewable energy source.
