Futuristic plans have been revealed for the world’s tallest skyscraper, which will be twice the height of One World Trade Center and is designed to store energy.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the architecture firm behind iconic structures such as New York’s supertall building and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, has partnered with energy storage company Energy Vault to design the structures to store renewable energy.
The pair are looking to develop new gravitational energy storage solutions and this mega-building would be used with an electric motor to lift giant blocks into the air when electricity demand is low.
These blocks would store electricity as “potential” energy and would be reduced when the city’s energy needs increased, transforming the energy into electricity.
The giant tower could reach incredible heights of up to 3,300 feet (making it three times larger than The Shard) and would house residents and have commercial spaces.
The supertower could reach incredible heights of up to 3,300 feet (making it three times larger than The Shard) and would house residents and have commercial spaces.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Energy Vault are seeking to develop new gravitational energy storage solutions and this mega-building would be used with an electrically powered motor to lift giant blocks into the air when electricity demand is low.
These blocks would then store the electricity as “potential” energy and would be reduced when the city’s energy needs increased, transforming the energy into electricity.
This facility could store enough energy to power numerous buildings with a capacity of several gigawatt-hours.
The concept has already been proven to work thanks to the 150-metre-high mega energy storage structure successfully built by Energy Vault in China.
The buildings would help the world successfully meet net-zero emissions targets by 2050, after the International Energy Agency said there was a need to scale up grid-connected technology that can store and distribute power when needed.
Storage is crucial to balancing generation and consumption and a combination of technologies (from various forms of batteries to other energy storage methods) will likely be needed to increase capacity.
The two companies are also looking to explore the futuristic use of pumped-storage hydropower in skyscrapers, potentially replacing water-powered blocks.
This would involve a turbine pumping water from a reservoir on lower ground to a reservoir on higher ground during off-peak hours.
The water is then released to flow through an electricity-generated turbine once demand increases.