←back to thread

Finnish City Inaugurates 1 MW/100 MWh Sand Battery

(cleantechnica.com)
190 points erwinmatijsen | 3 comments | 03 Sep 25 06:00 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
Show context
arowthway ◴[03 Sep 25 09:02 UTC] No.45113659[source]▶
This is super cool but the ending is bizarre.

> A comment on the YouTube video below complained, “Not a word about return on investment in the presentation. That means it’ll never pay off” MAGAlomaniacs are everywhere these days.

Given the supposed 50+ year lifespan of such a battery, I find it hard to believe it doesn't turn a profit at some point. And I understand that debunking low-effort accusations is asymmetric warfare. But why cite a random YouTube comment if you have no intention of addressing its claims? A more charitable interpretation is that it's meant to ragebait the readers. But to me, it seems like trying to make people feel ashamed for having doubts, by making a public example of a skeptic.

replies(12): >>45113894 #>>45113901 #>>45114039 #>>45114042 #>>45114328 #>>45114440 #>>45114465 #>>45114591 #>>45114612 #>>45114617 #>>45114754 #>>45115789 #
1. vjk800 ◴[03 Sep 25 11:41 UTC] No.45114591[source]▶
> Given the supposed 50+ year lifespan of such a battery

Surely the lifespan is almost forever. It's just a tank full of sand and some heating pipes. Maybe the pipes and/or control electronics needs to be replaced occasionally, but nothing should happen to the sand inside - like ever.

replies(1): >>45115241 #
2. idiotsecant ◴[03 Sep 25 13:05 UTC] No.45115241[source]▶
'just' the piping, pumps, control systems, electrical system, valves, instruments...

The sand is the least complex part. Industrial facilities like this take a lot to keep running.

replies(1): >>45116685 #
3. JeremyNT ◴[03 Sep 25 15:06 UTC] No.45116685[source]▶
I think the parent is suggesting that these things could be maintained in a cost effective way indefinitely. It's not like you hit year 50 and throw it away because of some inherent quality of the tech (as with nuclear plants or lithium batteries which fundamentally degrade in ways that are cost prohibitive to "fix").

The thing is, I'm unsure whether this holds true. Could you actually replace pipes inside a huge sand battery without bringing the entire thing offline? And at some point are you basically rebuilding it?