Startup secures €7.6M for sand battery that can heat a small town

Last month, Finnish startup Polar Night Energy announced that it is building a giant sand battery capable of heating a town of 5,000 people for up to a month. That’s on a single charge.  Polar Night is constructing the sand battery for the town of Pornainen in southern Finland. The system is expected to enable the town cut all oil use in its district heating network — slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 70%. Now, Polar Night Energy has secured a sizable €7.6mn to scale its thermal energy storage tech. The startup’s co-founder Markku Ylönen said he was “thrilled” with the…

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