Scotland’s Gravitricity is looking to tap ABB’s decades of mine-hoist market exposure and expertise with its new alliance with the Swiss industrial technology and equipment major.
Edinburgh-based Gravitricity, which has developed an innovative gravity energy storage system, is in the middle of an institutional fundraising as it pushes to accelerate commercial adoption of its offering.
ABB says its mining customers might benefit from “new sustainability opportunities beyond shaft decommissioning” which it plans to explore and present under its memorandum of understanding with Gravitricity.
Gravitricity has previously said it thinks there might be 14,000 mines worldwide that could be candidates for gravity energy storage projects. It says its GraviStore concept, based on raising and lowering heavy weights in underground shafts, is capable of generating up to 20MWh of distributable power.
“We are already seeing significant interest from mine operators in Europe, India and Australia and this partnership with ABB – with decades of electrification and mine hoist system expertise – will help us accelerate our ambitious commercialisation plans,” said Martin Wright, Gravitricity’s co-founder and executive chairman.
ABB’s worldwide base of more than 1000 mine hoist systems affords significant engineering and operational IP covering mine hoists and mechanical, electrical and control technologies for hoisting.
“ABB has 130 years of history with mine hoists, since we first electrified one in Sweden in the 1890s, but this collaboration with Gravitricity shows how we can continue to diversify and adapt our technologies,” said Charles Bennett, ABB Process Industries global service manager for the hoisting business line.
“We are eager to progress with our collaboration and explore the possibilities as we become part of the next generation of renewable energy storage systems and make use of mine shafts that are no longer in service.”
Gravitricity and ABB say instead of costly mine-shaft decommissioning, repurposing disused shafts for energy storage can make them productive for up to 50 years beyond their original lifetime while mitigating decommissioning costs.
