A new way of storing energy - sand battery

 In Vatajankoski power plant, 270 km north-west of Finland's capital Helsinki four young engineers managed to build world's first commercial-scale sand battery. After being heated to 600 degrees Celsius with electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels in Finland, the sand turns into a battery. When fully charged, the battery stores 8 MWh of thermal energy. When energy demand increases, the battery discharges approximately 200 kW of power through the heat-exchange pipes, which is sufficient to provide heating and hot water for approximately 100 homes and a public swimming pool in Kankaanpää. I think it's a really innovative idea that has the potential to change storing electricity forever and help with climate change. It doesn't affect the environment at all since it doesn't produce any environment damaging substances and thanks to really thick insulation it keeps the heat at all time even when it's freezing outside. I'm pretty sure that this type of batteries will be frequently used in near future

source :https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221102-how-a-sand-battery-could-transform-clean-energy