Energy Dome, a global provider of long-duration energy storage solutions that enable renewable energy to be dispatchable, and Ansaldo Energia, a leading international power OEM and service provider, signed a non-exclusive license agreement to partner on the commercialization of long-duration energy storage facilities across the EMEA region that will support greater integration and use of renewable energy on the grid. This partnership will help accelerate the transition away from fossil fuel power toward renewable energy to meet climate goals.
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With Energy Dome’s first commercial CO2 Battery storage facility nearing completion in Sardinia, Italy, Energy Dome anticipates seeing as many as 30 facilities being built over the next five years in Italy, Germany, the Middle East, and Africa. These facilities will use Energy Dome’s non-flammable, non-toxic carbon dioxide-based energy storage solution to store and dispatch power. The companies anticipate the deployment of the first CO2 Batteries, including performance guarantees, starting in 2023, with Ansaldo Energia acting as EPC, based on the Front-End-Engineering-Design (FEED) developed by Energy Dome.
“Our agreement with Energy Dome is an important step in Ansaldo’s plans to expand our clean energy business with energy storage solutions to help power industry players get the most out of their solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources, while ensuring reliability,” said Giuseppe Marino, CEO of Ansaldo Energia after signing the agreement. “We are pleased to include Energy Dome’s low-cost, long-duration energy storage solution in our suite of grid-scale clean energy solutions and look forward to deploying CO2 Batteries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.”
Energy Dome’s CO2 Battery technology does not involve scarce and environmentally challenging raw materials like lithium. Instead, it uses carbon dioxide and off-the-shelf components to charge and discharge power from 4 to 24 hours, enabling renewables to serve as fully-dispatchable daily energy resources. Energy Dome’s CO2 Batteries can be deployed just about anywhere at less than half the cost of similar-sized lithium-ion battery storage facilities and have superior round-trip efficiency, with no performance degradation over a 25-year lifecycle.
“We are excited to partner with Ansaldo Energia to scale the deployment of low-cost, easy-to-build CO2 Battery storage facilities,” said Energy Dome Founder and CEO Claudio Spadacini. “By entering into this agreement, after detailed technology validation, Ansaldo endorses the CO2 Battery and ensures its bankability by including performance guarantees backed up by its balance sheet. Energy Dome is open for business and we are negotiating multiple pre-orders for energy storage facilities of 100 to 200 MWh in size.”
Energy Dome’s CO2 Battery uses CO2 in a closed-loop charge/discharge cycle as a storage agent. Prior to charging, gaseous CO2 is kept in a large dome structure. During charging, electricity from the grid is used to compress the CO2 into liquid form, creating stored heat in the process. During discharge, the liquid CO2 is evaporated using the stored heat, expanded back into its gaseous form, and used to drive a turbine to generate electricity.