Hot rock batteries are coming to Europe — soon

Electro-thermal batteries’ selling point is they can heat up bricks and rocks using cheapest six hours of electricity in any given day.

For investors in new decarbonisation technologies, there is one question that trumps all others. When will they become competitive with existing fossil fuel alternatives? Solar and wind power have crossed the line; electric vehicles are close. The next candidate for this coveted position is the heat-based battery for plants and factories. 

Such electro-thermal installations, variously made of rocks, bricks and other materials heated with an electric coil, aim to solve one of the energy transition’s largest and least talked-about problems.

Delivering high temperatures — anything from 100 to 1,500 degrees — to make food, beverages, paper, chemicals and a host of other materials accounts for about a quarter of current fossil fuel consumption globally. This is also 20 per cent of carbon emissions. 

Read more here via the Financial Times.