Vatajankoski Sand Battery Inaugurated

The ’sand battery’ developed by Polar Night Energy was officially inaugurated on January 20th, 2023. Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä was in attendance at the ceremony.

The world’s first commercial sand-based energy storage system, or Sand Battery, has officially been inaugurated in Vatajankoski, Kankaanpää on January 20th, 2023. Developed by Polar Night Energy, the Sand Battery’s test phase began in May 2022 and it was put into actual use about a month later, in June-July.

“The Sand Battery has been in operation for over half a year and has performed even better than we expected. It’s the perfect time to officially inaugurate the battery as the heating season is at its busiest,” said Markku Ylönen, CTO of Polar Night Energy.

Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs, Mika Lintilä, also attended the event and highlighted the importance of energy storage and innovation for success in the domestic and international markets. He encouraged Polar Night Energy to expand to international markets and to increase Finland’s carbon handprint (a carbon handprint is the reduction of the carbon footprint of others).

”Courage, skill, and cooperation. You have had those. You can be proud of this”, Minister Lintilä said in his speech.

Polar Night Energy’s founders used 100 kilograms of sand in their first small test. The Vatajankoski Sand Battery currently holds about 100 tons of sand, and the next goal is to build a battery that is about 20 times larger than the Vatajankoski one, with a size of about 2000 tons.

The company is in talks with several customers to build new heat storages in Finland and is planning to expand to international markets in 2024.