The world’s largest sand battery, developed by Polar Night Energy for Loviisan Lämpö, has been officially inaugurated by Finnish Minister of the Environment and Climate Sari Multala.
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The industrial-scale sand battery has been serving as the main production plant for the Pornainen district heating network since June, reducing the carbon emissions of the heating network by around 70%.
Loviisan Lämpö CEO Mikko Paajanen said, “A couple of years ago, we started considering how to take district heating in Pornainen to the next level. It would have been easy to simply replace the old woodchip power plant with a new one of the same kind, but that didn’t align with our goals. We evaluated every possible alternative, and the Sand Battery proved to be the best option.”
A sand battery is a high-temperature thermal energy storage system that stores affordable and clean electricity as heat in sand or other solid materials. It solves many of the challenges of the energy transition.
The Pornainen Sand Battery has performed as expected and in its first months has even exceeded its guaranteed efficiency targets. The old woodchip plant hasn’t been used at all this summer.
The inauguration was carried out by the Finnish Minister of the Environment and Climate Sari Multala, who highlighted the significant potential of thermal storage to improve the flexibility of the energy system and reduce industrial emissions.
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“Energy storage plays an important role in the energy transition, where combustion-based production is phased out and society moves towards carbon neutrality. The Pornainen Sand Battery is a great example of how the clean transition can be advanced through the electrification of district heating networks,” Minister Multala said.
