Green Gravity to test mineshaft energy storage system

Energy storage company Green Gravity has announced the construction of the Gravity Lab, a research and development facility designed to test the use of gravity to store and release energy.

The company plans a facility in partnership with BlueScope Steel utilising disused mineshafts to obtain high resolution performance data from the company’s proprietary gravitational energy storage system.

The Gravity Lab will begin construction in May 2023 and will be located in the industrial precinct created by BlueScope in Port Kembla, NSW.

According to the Founder and CEO of Green Gravity Mark Swinnerton the partnership with BlueScope demonstrates the power of large and small enterprises working in collaboration to achieve a clean energy future.

Swinnerton said: “The capital investment committed to the Gravity Lab will enable some of the most advanced gravitational energy storage research in the world.

“The purpose-built facility will be capable of moving 16 separate weighted objects in a sequence to test the capabilities of our technology.”

BlueScope is developing a masterplan for rejuvenating 200 Hectares of surplus land adjacent to the Port Kembla steelworks, where Gravity Lab will repurpose one of the company’s industrial-size buildings.

Head of Corporate Affairs for BlueScope Australia Michael Reay said: “BlueScope has its own goal of net zero emissions by 2050 and has a pathway to the decarbonisation of steelmaking.

“We recognise that we are going to need an enormous amount green renewable energy in the transition and are proud to be supporting Green Gravity in helping to bring their innovative solution to life.”

The Gravity Lab will be co-commissioned with a digital twin.

Developed in partnership with AI specialist xAmplify and with support from NVIDIA, the digital twin of the Gravity Lab will operate within the NVIDIA Omniverse framework and will be calibrated from physical
experimentation.

The introduction of digital assets to the Gravity Lab will rapidly enable acquired data to validate commercial-scale energy storage systems.

Swinnerton said: “Green Gravity’s energy storage technology represents a breakthrough in the search for
economic long-duration storage of renewable energy. By re-using mining assets, costs can be kept low.

“By using gravity as the fuel, we dispense with consuming the critical water, land, and chemicals which other storage technologies rely on.”

Further reading:
BlueScope thinks Big for the future of Port Kembla

Picture: Green Gravity