“China built a 40-story tower that stores wind power by stacking concrete

…

Surplus wind power hoists 35-ton blocks cast from recycled concrete and industrial aggregate toward the top. When the grid needs electricity again, the blocks descend and spin the generators. The tower stores 100 megawatt-hours and can deliver 25 megawatts for about four hours, at a targeted round-trip efficiency above 80 percent, with a 35-year lifespan and no chemical degradation.”

https://boingboing.net/2026/07/06/post-china-built-a-40-story-tower-that-stores-wind-powe.html

I did a rough calculation in my head and realized you’d need around 10k blocks to do this, and that seemed like a lot, but apparently it’s what they do

https://s203.q4cdn.com/692145866/files/doc_news/CNTY/2024/Rudong-100MWh-Gravity-Storage-Project-of-China-Tianying-Inc-CNTY-Gains-Spotlight-on-CCTV-Translated.pdf

It would be much more simple to raise the weights to a mountain slope than constructing a tower/building to support them.

7 minutes ago, Externet said:

It would be much more simple to raise the weights to a mountain slope than constructing a tower/building to support them.

And if you don’t live near a mountain?

If you are not near a mountain you will have much, much less wind as source in the lowlands for storing energy. If there is no height, would be like putting solar collectors in the shaded slope of a mountain.

Things are done at locations where deserve being done, even with transmission lines from generation to consumption. As there is no solar generation in the Sahara, with no consumption there.

51 minutes ago, Externet said:

If you are not near a mountain you will have much, much less wind as source in the lowlands for storing energy. If there is no height, would be like putting solar collectors in the shaded slope of a mountain.

Things are done at locations where deserve being done, even with transmission lines from generation to consumption. As there is no solar generation in the Sahara, with no consumption there.

Have you been at the tequila ?

None of the above is true.

Why do you think all those enormous wind farms are offshore just above sea level ?

There are no mountains on Shetland, yet it is the windiest place in the UK.

There are huge solar farms in the Sahara, with electricity being exported to southern Europe.

58 minutes ago, Externet said:

If you are not near a mountain you will have much, much less wind as source in the lowlands for storing energy

That must be why nobody puts wind turbines just offshore, or on the coast. Except for all the ones that are just offshore, and on the coast.

There is a link in the article, which shows a rather nice picture of the wind and solar farm, and the exceedingly flat land around it. The generation there ensures the transmission lines are in place, so no new ones are needed.

AutoNotion

A windowless concrete tower 40 stories tall on the China...

China has a third option up and running on its coast now, and it doesn't look like either one. North of Shanghai there's a 148-meter concrete tower that