Australian energy storage company Green Gravity has entered another collaboration alliance aimed at broadening its technical and commercialisation base, signing a memorandum of understanding with shaft-sinking specialist, RUC.
RUC, part of South Africa’s Murray and Roberts, has a “deep capability” in shaft sinking and mine-shaft hoisting, according to Green Gravity, which last year formed a three-year partnership with international engineering firm, GHD, covering design and marketing. It had previously entered cooperation agreements with xAmplify and Yancoal.
Green Gravity founder and CEO Mark Swinnerton said adding RUC’s mine-shaft experience ensured the best industry knowledge was being integrated into the gravitational energy storage technology.
“Green Gravity is bringing new technology to an existing population of mine shafts,” he said.
“Partnering with a leading organisation who sunk many of those shafts is an obvious choice. Bringing the experience of RUC to the table allows the best knowledge of existing operations to be included into our cutting-edge renewable energy technology.
“With detailed design underway for our commercial-scale energy storage system, integrating the global scale and innovative thinking of RUC to areas like the vertical transit system and mine winder design will generate superior outcomes for the technology.”
Swinnerton said re-using mining assets potentially lowered long-duration renewable energy storage costs.
“By using gravity as the fuel, we dispense with consuming the critical water, land, and chemicals which other storage technologies rely on,” he said.
