Gravitricity and Czech firm DIAMO announce plans to cooperate on full scale gravity energy store

The Edinburgh-based company has signed a signed a memorandum of understanding with DIAMO, the Czech state enterprise charged with mitigating the consequences of uranium ore and coal mining in the republic.

Gravitricity’s core technology uses heavy weights – totalling up to 12,000 tonnes – suspended in a deep shaft by cables attached to winches.  When there is excess electricity, for example on a windy day, the weight is winched to the top of the shaft ready to generate power.  This weight can then be released when required – in less than a second – and the winches become generators, producing either a large burst of electricity quickly, or releasing it more slowly depending on what is needed.

The agreement will see the two companies seek funding to transform the former decommissioned Darkov deep mine – which is located in the Moravian-Silesian region of the Czech Republic - into a 4MW / 2MWh energy store, capable of powering more than 16,000 homes. According to Gravitricity the system will store energy by lowering and raising a single massive weight suspended in the Darkov mine shaft. The company has also signed a memorandum with VSB Technical University of Ostrava, whose specialist mining expertise will support the implementation of the technology .