Seasonal Underground Thermal Energy Storage
Solar Energy is the most abundant renewable energy in our planet, however one of the disadvantages of solar energy is that it's available when it's less needed. We have more sunny hours in the summer than in winter in most Canadian Cities, which make any solar system (Whether PV Panels, Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors, Solar Air Heaters, etc...) oversized for summer, when designed to cover winter demand, and very expensive for a regular middle class Canadian Family.
The ideal scenario will be to store the excess produced energy in the summer (when demand is low) and be able to use it in winter (when demand is high). That was and still not easy to achieve in places like Canada and the North Eastern portion of the US. Daily Storage, whether thermal storage with water tanks or electricity storage with DC batteries is very common in North America, however the stored energy can not last more than couple of days.
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The ideal scenario will be to store the excess produced energy in the summer (when demand is low) and be able to use it in winter (when demand is high). That was and still not easy to achieve in places like Canada and the North Eastern portion of the US. Daily Storage, whether thermal storage with water tanks or electricity storage with DC batteries is very common in North America, however the stored energy can not last more than couple of days.