Finland container energy storage information

Is polar night energy a sand based energy storage system?

Polar Night Energy’s system, based on its patented technology, has gone online on the site of a power plant operated by utility Vatajankoski. The first commercial sand based thermal energy storage system in the world has started operating in Finland, developed by Polar Night Energy.

Why has Finland halted gas & electricity supplies?

It has the longest Russian border in the EU and Moscow has now halted gas and electricity supplies in the wake of Finland's decision to join NATO. Concerns over sources of heat and light, especially with the long, cold Finnish winter on the horizon are preoccupying politicians and citizens alike.

Does Finland need a district heating system?

"It's very useful in Finland where we have cold winters and need heating pretty much from September to May, [due to] an average annual temperature of under 10C (50F)," she says, adding that half of Finland's 5.5 million people are connected to a district heating network.

Does Finland have green power?

Finland gets most of its gas from Russia, so the war in Ukraine has drawn the issue of green power into sharp focus. It has the longest Russian border in the EU and Moscow has now halted gas and electricity supplies in the wake of Finland's decision to join NATO.

How much sand is in a heat storage container?

It’s been a positive surprise." The actual heat storage is about 4 meters wide and 7 meters high steel container that has an automated heat storage system and a hundred tons of sand inside. As a material, sand is durable and inexpensive and can store a lot of heat in a small volume at a temperature of about 500–600 degrees Celsius.

How does vatajankoski use waste heat?

Vatajankoski uses the heat provided by the storage to prime the waste heat recovered from their data servers which are intended for high-performance computing. Depending on the season, the temperature of the 60-degree waste heat from the servers must be raised to 75–100 degrees before it is fed into the district heating network.