Finnish start-up's sand therm-storage pilot aims to cut industrial emissions by up to 90%

TheStorage, a Finnish cleantech start‑up, has brought its first industrial‑scale sand-based thermal storage system into operation at a local brewery, marking what the company describes as a significant step toward decarbonising industrial heat. According to the announcement, the pilot , officially commissioned in January 2026 , is capable of storing large quantities of heat produced from electricity and releasing it as steam on demand. “The system converts renewable electricity into heat, stores it in sand, and delivers it for on-demand industrial heating,” the company said in a press release.

Industrial heat is a cornerstone of global energy demand and emissions. Industry consumes a substantial share of final energy use and remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels for process heat, a reality underscored by recent sector studies. According to McKinsey, more than one fifth of global energy is used for industrial heat, with roughly 80% of that still supplied by oil, gas and coal, a barrier to achieving net‑zero ambitions. The REN21 Global Status Report 2025 places industry’s share of final energy use above 30% and notes that nearly 90% of process heat remains fossil‑fuel derived, highlighting the scale and complexity of the challenge.

TheStorage’s solution applies a “sand‑in‑motion” approach. Cool sand is moved from a cold storage silo through an electric heater to reach temperatures of up to 800°C and then stored in a hot silo until heat is required. When the brewery needs steam, hot sand is circulated through an external heat exchanger to transfer energy to the process. The company states this dynamic circulation achieves a much higher heat transfer rate than static packed‑bed concepts and claims potential reductions in energy costs of up to 70% and carbon emissions of up to 90% for manufacturing facilities that replace fossil boilers with the system.

The technology’s modular design is pitched at the heavy end of industrial heat demand: TheStorage describes scalable capacities from 20 to 500 MWh and charging power between 1 and 20 MW, positioning the product to serve sectors such as food processing, chemicals and other steam‑intensive operations. “Companies have wanted to decarbonize for years, but viable solutions simply weren’t available,” said Timo Siukkola, CEO of TheStorage, in the company statement. “Finally, renewable energy generation can meet industrial heat demand in a way that’s both ecologically sound and economically practical.”

Real‑world testing at the brewery provides a proof‑point for integrating intermittent renewable generation with baseload industrial processes by utilising low‑cost electricity windows to charge thermal stores. Vesa Peltola, the brewery’s Production Director, is quoted as noting that producing steam without fossil fuels is a major step toward carbon‑neutral production.

Sand‑based thermal storage is not novel in Finland’s energy landscape. Earlier projects, notably Polar Night Energy’s large sand battery installations that have been integrated into district heating networks, demonstrate the concept’s feasibility at utility scale. PV‑Magazine reported in 2025 on a 1 MW/100 MWh system in Pornainen that now supplies heat to a local network, illustrating both technical viability and scalability for larger thermal markets.

However, claims of cost and emissions reductions warrant close scrutiny in operational settings. The economics of electrifying heat depend on the gap between wholesale electricity prices and the marginal cost of fossil fuels, the capital cost and lifetime of thermal equipment, and the efficiency of heat delivery to end processes. Industry analyses stress that heat electrification can be an effective decarbonisation pathway but requires careful matching of temperature requirements, duty cycles and plant integration to avoid costly retrofit risks. According to the IEA, regional fuel mixes and prevailing energy prices , particularly the dominance of natural gas in many industrial systems , will shape adoption rates and near‑term emissions outcomes.

For industrial buyers considering thermal storage, points to evaluate include peak and average temperatures reliably deliverable by the system, round‑trip thermal losses over target storage durations, footprint and materials handling requirements, integration complexity with existing boilers and steam systems, and total cost of ownership compared with alternative decarbonisation routes such as hydrogen, electrified heat pumps or biomass fuelling. TheStorage’s reported tenfold improvement in heat transfer over static models, if borne out in independent measurements, would reduce exchanger sizes and potentially simplify retrofits, but independent validation of performance metrics will be important for risk‑averse industrial procurement teams.

The commissioning at the brewery is the culmination of development that TheStorage says began with concept work in 2023 and progressed through engineering in 2024. The pilot joins a growing portfolio of thermal storage demonstrations that aim to shift process heat off fossil fuels and make industrial energy use compatible with high shares of renewables. Industry observers note that while individual pilots are useful, broad decarbonisation will require coordinated policy support, access to low‑cost clean electricity and credible, bankable performance records to unlock larger capital flows.

TheStorage’s pilot adds to mounting evidence that thermal energy storage can play a role in industrial decarbonisation pathways, but the technology’s commercial tipping point will depend on demonstrable lifetime performance, integration costs and the relative economics versus competing low‑carbon heat solutions. Government statistics, consultancy analyses and independent field data will be watched closely by industrial energy managers and investors as more sand‑based and other thermal stores move from demonstration to commercial operation.