The Wrocław University of Science and Technology is the leader of an international scientific-industrial consortium working on the use of gravitational energy storage. The project ‘GrEnMine – Gravitational energy storage in the post-Mine areas’ is funded under the European RFCS – Research Fund for Coal&Steel programme.
Gravitational energy storage is a device that uses the potential energy of large masses, such as concrete blocks. In one existing concept, the device resembles a crane, lifting special blocks as high as 100 metres.
Its principle, in a nutshell, is that when excess energy flows into the electrical grid, the crane automatically lifts the blocks, i.e. storing the energy, and when the energy is to be returned to the grid, the blocks are lowered. The component that converts the stored potential energy into electricity is a generator unit with a frequency converter.
