Nano Energies VPP to integrate Gravitricity’s underground storage Charlie Blair from Grvitricity

Nano Energies believes Gravitricity’s underground storage technology can ‘respond to grid fluctuations very quickly and flexibly’

UK underground energy storage company Gravitricity has entered a collaboration with Czech electricity flexibility aggregator Nano Energies to develop commercial routes to market for gravity storage technology.

Last month Edinburgh-headquartered Gravitricity unveiled plans to transform the former Darkov deep mine in the Czech Republic into a massive gravity energy store, which it believes could be a blueprint for projects Europe-wide.

Nano Energies delivers energy services to several European countries including Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, as well as the Czech Republic.

It brings together electricity sources including cogeneration units, solar parks, biogas and biomass stations with demand-side response to deliver dispatchable power and other services to TSOs via a network of virtual power plants.

Now bosses at Nano Energies see potential in combining Gravitricity’s technology with its own model for energy flexibility.

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Chief executive Stanislav Chvála said: “Gravitricity’s technology is able to respond to grid fluctuations very quickly and flexibly in terms of megawatt volume.

“We could thus involve them in our virtual power plants, which help balance the grid in the way that nowadays primarily coal and gas-fired power plants are able to do.

Chvála said Gravitricity’s solution was “a long-life technology, well suited to integration with existing grid infrastructure”.

“It can cycle rapidly from charge to discharge without any loss of performance over many years, and it delivers extremely fast response times of less than a second.

“This makes it a very attractive package to grid operators seeking grid balancing and fast frequency response services.”

Gravitricity managing director Charlie Blair said: “Our collaboration agreement with Nano Energies will provide a secure route to market for our stored electricity, which recognises the unique and valuable characteristics that our fast response, long life technology can offer.

“We anticipate this will become a commercial blueprint underpinning the financing and rollout of future energy stores Europe-wide.”