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Summary
Renewable energy has one big flaw: the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. That makes it hard to rely on clean power around the clock. The small Finnish town of Pornainen found a workaround. It built a giant battery filled with crushed soapstone that stores heat when electricity is cheap and releases it when needed.
The battery stands 13 meters high and 15 meters wide. Inside sits 2,000 metric tons of crushed soapstone.
The whole setup can store 100 MWh of thermal energy. On a single charge, it can cover the town's heating needs for nearly a month in summer and about a week in winter.
The local heating company, Loviisan Lämpö, commissioned the project. Its CEO, Mikko Paajanen, said: "The main thing is that we can separate the electricity procurement from the district heating production because now we are able to deliver this heating during the wintertime for one week, with one charge of the battery, and during the summertime, it even lasts as long as one month."
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#News#DistrictHeating