Mine Storage
Mine Storage is a Swedish energy storage company that enables a sustainable energy transition by developing and operating mine storages – pumped hydro systems that utilize water and gravity in mines to store energy and balance the grid.
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Overview
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Mine Storage is a Swedish energy storage company that enables a sustainable energy transition by developing and operating mine storages – pumped hydro systems that utilize water and gravity in mines to store energy and balance the grid. Collaborating with various partners to build an international mine storage portfolio, Mine Storage aims to complete the first project in 2027 and has a project pipeline consisting of over 1 GW based on one charging cycle. The team, consisting of proven entrepreneurs and power industry experts, combine proprietary software with equipment from proven vendors to ensure a fast roll-out to support the global energy storage demand.
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Electricity
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Flexible Grid Scale Energy Storage
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Mine Storage technology is a proven, scalable way to safely store and distribute energy and help balance transmission grids. Mine Storage develops grid-scale energy storage in underground mines using closed-loop pumped storage hydropower. By leveraging the height differences in mines, large quantities of energy are stored using water and gravity. The operational model for each mine storage facility is developed to optimise revenue streams from local markets.
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Sustainability Impact
A 100 MW mine storage facility can provide a city of 250,000 households with energy for up to 12 hours
Using water and gravity to store energy is one of the most mature and widespread technologies for energy storage available today. In fact, more than 90 % of the current grid-supporting energy storage is based on water and gravity.
Using abandoned mines has several benefits on different levels. It enables hydropower energy storage facilities to be built in places without height differences in the landscape. It lowers the construction cost and the environmental impact given that existing infrastructure can be utilized.
A mine storage can vary in size from 15 to 200 MW and in discharge time from 2 to 12 hours, depending on the need in the area where it is located.
To put this in context, A 100 MW facility can provide a city of 250,000 households with energy for up to 12 hours. Each facility is tailored to the local market and requirements, ensuring that it serves its purpose and that it is financially sustainable.
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FAQ
Q: How does a mine storage work?
A: A mine storage uses the cleanest media, water, and the most reliable power, gravity, to accomplish an energy storage system. The height difference between two reservoirs is what allows for energy to be stored by pumping water from the lower to the higher reservoir, and later released by the water passing the power equipment in the machine hall.
Q: How many suitable mines are there?
A: There are roughly a million closed mines registered in the global database mindat.org. All of them are not suitable for mine storages, but the availability of mines is not a limitation. On the contrary, they have significant global spread, and we also see opportunity for the use of mines still in operation.
Q: What type of mines can be used as mine storages?
A: Mines with a minimum of 50 meter, “head”, which is the expression for height difference in the hydropower industry, can be suitable. The size of reservoirs depends on several parameters, most importantly for which application we plan to use the mine storage. The mines are assessed as part of our Mine Storage WoW (Way of Working) that also includes looking at parameters such as mine type, design, proximity to a grid connection. We use our mining expertise in the mine assessment. Different mines may require different measures as part of the physical conversion to a mine storage.
Q: Where does the water come from?
A: This is site-specific, meaning in some parts of the world, we can use existing ground water and in other parts the “first fill” may be a critical question, which needs to be resolved and cost estimated as part of the overall CapEx (Capital Expenditure).
Q: How big is a mine storage?
A: All our business development is based on finding profitable business cases. Given that there are different revenue opportunities and different needs on different markets we have no fixed size limits. There are no limitations in size from technical point of view, and the beauty of mine storage is that the increase of energy is water and reservoir space, thus low-cost components compared to other energy storage systems. One strong market position for a mine storage is grid-scale energy storage (15 MW up to several hundred MW). Regarding energy ratings, we typically see 50 MWh as the lower starting point and again, the business case defines how high we go.
Q: How do you get grid connection?
A: There are differences between countries, but the most common principle is to engage with the responsible grid company in the geographical area. The required voltage level will depend on the power rating and intended operation of the mine storage.
Q: Why is a mine storage better than a battery park?
A: That depends on the needs of the area and market. If grid-scale bulk storage is needed, a mine storage with its huge capacity is much more suitable than a battery park. A mine storage can discharge energy for a longer period of time and with more power.
Q: How does a mine storage make money?
A: A mine storage is the grid scale energy storage equivalent of a swizz army knife. It can trade on many different markets, for example electricity trade arbitrage and/or ancillary services such as grid frequency control. Fast-response, grid-scale energy storage will be a crucial component in the future energy system, given that the demand for energy and the share of intermittent renewable energy production keeps growing.
Q: Do you have any operational facilities today?
A: Our first mine storage will be in operation in 2025-2026.
