Gravity based energy storage feasibility study

Panitek Power has offices in the UK, India and Switzerland, and it partners with SMEs from across Europe to help them enter new international markets. It has expertise in Electrical, Smart Grid and Green Hydrogen technologies, which it combines with novel business models, to address local market needs. Examples include the launch of a lithium-ion battery product by a Swiss company in India, and the development of electric vehicle chargers for the Indian market.

Gravitricity has developed technology to store energy by raising and lowering weights inside a shaft. The innovation is in the design of a combination of tensioned wires and a winch structure and novel electrically driven winch-drive modules. Gravitricity systems can generate up to 20MW of power, with durations of up to several hours.

The World Bank estimates India's electricity demand to treble between now and 2040\. As recently as 2015, coal accounted for 75% of electricity generation in India. Much of the new generation capacity will come from renewables, and the Indian government has the target to install over 450GW of solar and wind power by 2030\. This will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and also improve air quality in major cities.

To enable the grid to accommodate this intermittent renewable electricity, energy storage systems such as Gravitricity are needed. An evaluation by Imperial College London, shows that the Gravitricity is more cost effective than other forms of electrical energy storage such as lithium-ion batteries. Gravitricity's longevity (10-50x higher cycle life than batteries) and versatility make it particularly well suited for developing countries. This will allow for an increase in the penetration level of renewable energy in the Indian grid, with higher reliability of power, and at a lower cost.

This feasibility project will explore options for collaboration and innovation with potential customers and suppliers in India, for gravity based electrical energy storage.