Yes, but how does it heat these houses? The method? Calling it a battery implies electric recovery doesn't it? Or are you suggesting blowing air through it down pipes to houses?
Nick
Hot water circulation. You are absolutely right, it's not a battery at all, it's a heat storage/recovery system. As many others have pointed out, hysterical and inaccurate reporting by the media is completely unhelpful.
I reckon the narrative that they are trying to push is that one day someone's going to come up with a silver bullet solution that solves all our energy problems and enables us to carry on as we are. You see it time and time again whether applied to sand batteries, hydrogen cars, fusion power or anything else.
The dangerous subtext of course is that we can therefore all carry on as we are now without making any adjustments, because the magic answer is just around the corner.