Industrial heat stored in sand
Sell low-carbon steam and hot water to food plants, made with the cheapest electricity.
Sources checked on 23 October 2026
Summary Free
In June 2025 Polar Night Energy started up the world's largest 'sand battery' in Finland: 100 MWh of heat stored in about 2,000 tonnes of soapstone, feeding a district heating network. The idea: apply this storage to industry, especially food processing, which needs steam and hot water. The storage is charged when electricity is cheap and the heat is sold as a service, with no upfront cost for the plant. Rondo and Kyoto Group already sell heat as a service.
The technology
Electric heaters warm a large volume of sand or crushed rock to several hundred degrees; heat is recovered by air and transferred to water or steam. The Pornainen unit has 1 MW of power and 100 MWh of capacity.
New sector and target customers
Food plants (dairies, breweries, canneries), industrial laundries, paper mills, district heating networks.
Main source
World's largest sand battery now in operation
Polar Night Energy · June 2025
Verified competitors
Polar Night Energy, Rondo Energy, Kyoto Group, Antora Energy, Kraftblock
Opportunity window Free
Is now the right time to start? A score out of 100, based on 5 criteria.
- Technology maturity (TRL)
- Regulatory tailwind
- Open funding calls
- Competitor and investor activity
- Market timing
The breakdown of the 5 criteria (rating, justification and source) is reserved for Premium members and buyers of the idea file.
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How it is calculated
Each criterion is rated from 1 to 5, then weighted. Score = sum of weight × (rating − 1) / 4, rounded.
- Technology maturity (TRL) (weight 25): The closer the technology is to a product (high TRL), the higher the rating.
- Regulatory tailwind (weight 20): A law or standard that creates demand raises the rating; a long approval process lowers it.
- Open funding calls (weight 15): Number of open or upcoming calls with a deadline in the next 12 months (the idea's "Funding calls" list).
- Competitor and investor activity (weight 20): Competitors raising money show that investors believe in the field: the rating is high. Little activity: the rating is low.
- Market timing (weight 20): A recent signal (first customer, first plant, incident) showing that the market is moving now.
The 5 levels: Wide-open window (From 80) · Open window (From 65) · Medium window (From 50) · Narrow window (From 35) · Closed window (From 0)
Editorial assessment by DeepTechBusinessLab, not investment advice. Criteria marked “To be verified” rely on thin evidence.
Open funding calls and grants
8 funding call(s) match this idea. Next deadline: 4 November 2026 (in 5 days).
The full list (call name, programme, amount, deadline and official link) is reserved for Premium members and buyers of the file.
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This data will be kept up to date by EUFundingRadar Bot, our European funding watch bot.
Starter kit
Everything you need to get moving: a one-page pitch, real contacts and the pilot customers to target.
What the kit contains
- One-page pitch in French and English (problem, solution, technology, market, business model, funding ask)
- 5 real contacts: labs, patent holders and organisations, with their official link
- 4 pilot customer profiles to approach
One-page pitch Project
Contacts and pilot customers Investor file
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Kit checked on 24 October 2026
The rest of the idea file
Choose the level of detail you need.
Known technology limits Analysis
Market in detail Analysis
Competitors in detail Analysis
And 9 more parts: Regulation, All sources, Step-by-step funding plan, EU grants and programmes, First steps, Useful contacts (public organisations), Competitors' investors, Risks and warning signs, Typical team
Analysis
290 €
€232 with Premium
Market, competitors and regulation, with every source
- Sourced market (several studies, segments, Europe)
- Detailed competitors: products, funding, country
- Regulation: laws, standards, permits
- Every source
- Opportunity window score breakdown
Project
590 €
€472 with Premium
The Analysis, plus the funding plan and EU grants
- Everything in Analysis
- Step-by-step funding plan
- Possible EU grants (checked with EUFundingRadar)
- First steps and useful contacts (public organisations)
- One-page pitch in French and English, printable
Investor file
990 €
€792 with Premium
The Project, plus competitors' investors, risks and 6 months of updates
- Everything in Project
- Full starter kit: labs, patent holders and pilot customers
- Investors who funded the competitors
- Risks, warning signs and typical team
- PDF in French and English
- Updates for 6 months
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Related technologies to license
Technologies offered for licensing that could be a starting point for this project.
SandTES: high-temperature sand thermal storage (100 to 800 °C)
Heat storage in moving sand, to supply industrial heat or steam.
See the official offer · Checked on 24 October 2026
Update history
Dated events that change how this idea reads, with their source.
-
Idea file created
-
New source
Polar Night Energy's world's largest sand battery goes into operation
Source: Polar Night Energy
Independent information, not investment advice. TRL levels and budgets are estimates to be validated.
