An international research team has developed a gravitational energy storage technology for weekly cycles in high-rise buildings in urban environments. Lift Energy Storage Technology (LEST) is a proposed long-term storage solution. It relies on the use of elevators in buildings to lift solid masses in charging mode.
A new gravitational energy storage solution based on the operation of lifts in high-rise buildings. LEST is a decentralized solution for energy storage with daily to weekly cycles. The installed capacity energy storage cost of LEST is 21–128 USD/kWh. LEST is particularly interesting for providing decentralized ancillary services.
Conclusion This paper concludes that Lift Energy Storage Technology could be a viable alternative to long-term energy storage in high-rise buildings. LEST could be designed to store energy for long-term time scales (a week) to generate a small but constant amount of energy for a long time.
The current fuel mix in Hong Kong mainly consists of coal, natural and nuclear energy, which generate electricity in remote plants far away from populated regions. So electricity supplied to high-rise residential buildings needs to be transmitted and distributed via underground cables and overhead lines.
Recently, a large number of studies have been conducted on the design optimization of renewable energy and electric energy storage (RE-EES) systems for power supply to buildings and communities in both urban and remote regions. Much attention has been paid to sizing and optimizing RE-EES systems for power supply to single buildings in urban areas.
It is particularly interesting for high-rise buildings because several lifts can travel up or down simultaneously in the same shaft. This significantly reduces the number of shafts required in the building, increasing by up to 50% the space available for residential or office space in the building.