SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A Californian company proposes using weighted electrically-driven rail vehicles on inclines to store energy. At times when the capacity of electricity supply exceeds demand the vehicles would be driven up inclined tracks, and when demand exceeds generation they are allowed to run down, generating electricity as they fall.
This link includes a video that shows a prototype vehicle (which appears to be built on a conventional locomotive chassis), an interview with a promoter, and an animation of a "farm" of these devices. There is a shortage of hard data, such as how much energy could be stored, for how long, and how steep the tracks are, etc., but a quick calculation shows that some thousands of these vehicles would be required for them to be useful. The control panel for this prototype has a power dial that appears to go up to only 20 kW. The promoter in the interview focuses instead on how the construction material can be recycled at end of life.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday July 03 2018, @07:29PM
There's an easier hand wavy engineering argument that its difficult to get a straight answer because I'm sure it varies a lot, but very hand wavy Hoover Dam squirts ten million pounds of water per second, so a mechanical contrivance that continuously flung a million pounds of "not water" thru similar "engineering sane and reasonable" distances, would generate about a tenth of a hoover dam.
So if you're impressed with Hoover Dam as a mechanical engineering achievement, and impressed with things that move about that weigh a million pounds (like very large train engines) to handle similar amounts of power using pulleys and baling wire and duct tape takes either something ten times bigger or ten times heavier than "already fairly impressive existing upper limit". In other words without substantial evidence to the contrary it aint happening.