Can volcanic rocks store energy?

John Kosowatz is senior editor. A large electrothermal energy storage project in Hamburg, Germany, uses heated volcanic rocks to store energy. Siemens Gamesa, the company behind the pilot project, says it’s a cost-effective and scalable solution to store renewable energy.

What if lava moves over flat ground?

In this case, the heat energy released by the ALFS is at least one order of magnitude greater than the potential energy available and can be up to two orders of magnitude greater, or more, if lava moves over flat ground, as in the Holuhraun case.

How does a lava flow behave?

The emerging picture is that a lava flow behaves both (i) as a gravity-driven flow advancing towards the steepest slope and (ii) as a “lava current,” which, through analogy with an electric current, is controlled by the least dissipation principle.

When does a lava flow need a power supply?

It only applies when a lava flow, evolving under a constant supply, attains steady-state conditions (i.e., when both the mass and the heat budgets balance). In this case, the power supply is the volcano which is supposed to supply lava at a constant rate. The similarity between the three expressions of Eqs.

How does heat advect out of a lava deposit?

Heat then advects out of the ALFS by the transfer of mass to the “lava deposit” system and, thus, by heat loss to the surroundings through radiation and/or convection. Heat and potential energy for given Δ T and Δ h. For the calculation of Q, a constant c p is assumed, although c p can vary with temperature (e.g., Dingwell 1998 ).

How does a lava deposit cool?

The newly formed “lava deposit” is still far from thermal equilibrium with its surroundings and continues to cool by releasing heat into its cooler, surrounding environment (Wooster et al. 1997; Harris 2013 p.261; Coppola et al. 2015 ).