World_s largest sand battery came online in Finland to supply renewable energy in the cold months

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00:00This is the world's largest sand battery and it's able to store one whole month's worth of heating

00:06for an entire district in Finland. It's genius. It's quite literally a battery filled with sand,

00:12able to release heat whenever it's needed. It can store 100 megawatt hours worth of heat in a

00:18container that's about 15 meters tall, filled with crushed soapstone. That material is very dense

00:24and very good at retaining heat. Now, when there's extra power from solar and wind, that can be

00:30transferred into this battery and converted into heat through a process called resistive heating,

00:34which is quite complicated. Essentially, warm air passes through it and that stone can heat it up

00:39to 500 degrees Celsius, where it can store the energy as renewable, cheap and available whenever

00:46it's needed. And in Pornena, where this is being used in Finland, they use it to heat the water in

00:50the district for offices, buildings and even the local swimming pool. But the really cool thing

00:55about this is its impact on the planet. This system has caused the district to reduce its emissions by

00:5970%. They used to rely on oil and wood chippings to generate their heat. They don't anymore. So if you

01:06like to see your town village using a sand battery, not a sentence I thought I'd be saying, but pretty cool.