Research Status and Prospect Analysis of Gravity Energy Storage

The instability of new energy generation is a great challenge to the construction of new electric power system and the realization of the carbon–neutral goal. Energy storage is an effective measure to solve this kind of problem. According to the storage ways of energy, energy storage technology can be roughly divided into physical energy storage, chemical energy storage, electromagnetic energy storage and heat storage. Gravity energy storage is one of the physical energy storage types, which has a great potential for the long-term energy storage. In this study, the technical mechanisms and advantages of gravity energy storage are elucidated. The theoretical gravity generating capacity and efficiency are investigated. The overseas and domestic research status of four typical gravity energy storage are shown. Moreover, the comparison of various gravity energy storage technology schemes are shown and the future research directions are discussed. Among the various gravity energy storage technologies, gravity energy storage based on mountain drop and underground shaft has more development prospects. The electric/generator technology, hoisting technology and heavy/motor group control technology will become the future research focus. These results are valuable to the development of gravity energy storage.