A metal sock in the ground stuffed full of hydrogen.
Vats of scorching sand.
Huge weights moving very, very slowly up and down old mineshafts.
Is this the future of energy?
Without such storage, electricity must be used at the very moment it is generated.
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Proponents of alternative energy storage technologies argue that lithium-ion batteries will only get us so far.
Sand that can store energy in the form of heat.
Pipes filled with hot air run through the sand to get to transfer heat in or out.
Eronen explains that early versions of the firms sand battery are relatively small in scale.
Expect news regarding the delivery of a 2MW version as early as this spring, adds Eronen.
It basically just stores water in a big underground tank, says project engineer Marijn van den Heuvel.
Its a very large thermos.
Theres a bit more construction required in setting this system up, though.
The concrete thermosmust be carefully installedin a huge, cylindrical hole in the ground.
The site will form a mind-boggling array of silos, pipework and platforms bunched together.
It will comprise thermal and cold storage units and containers for the liquid air itself.
The system achieves an efficiency of 55-65%, which Highview says is comparable to other storage technologies.
Walters says the Carrington site should go live by the end of 2024.
Most of us learned about potential energy at school.
Early commercial systems will use a combination of large weights totalling 1,000 tonnes.
Lithium ion batteries, on the other hand, havestricter limitations in terms of cycling.
Another firm, Energy Vault, which employs 150 people, is also pursuing gravity battery technology.
It has raised approximately $410m in funding to date.
The big issue is funding, he says, noting the wariness of some investors.
Governments could help, he suggests, by setting more ambitious targets for the establishment of energy storage facilities.
It feels so bad, he says.
We see the crisis now and theres like no way that we can help.
So the push is certainly on.
