Italian startup Energy Dome, which created the world's first CO2 battery, is now offering its services in the U.S.Energy Dome's battery takes carbon and renewable energy from the sun and wind to create stored energy on the grid.
See also: The first CO2 battery for long-term energy storage is launched
Energy Dome earlier this month received funding and networking support from Elemental Excelerator, which invests in climate technology development projects in both Hawaii and the Bay Area.
Elemental said it is funding the Energy Dome because “the ability to store energy from intermittent sources like solar and wind for extended periods has long been the missing piece of the carbon decarbonization puzzle.”
In just two years, Energy Dome progressed from concept to full testing at multi-megawatt scale. The first CO2 battery was installed in an industrial site that already had an electrical connection in Sardinia.
Energy Dome recently announced that it secured $11 million in funding to purchase equipment for a 20 MW/200 MW/10-hour installation for the Italian utility company A2A. The two companies signed a memorandum of cooperation.
See also: Global launch: The world's first long-lasting CO2 battery
360 Capital, Barclays, Novum Capital Partners and Third Derivative are just a few of Energy Dome's many investors.
According to the Energy Dome website, CO2 is an ideal gas for energy storage because it can be condensed and stored as a liquid under pressure, without requiring extreme temperatures. It allows for increased energy storage without the need for significant temperature reductions.
Spadacini Bloomberg in May on how the system works:
To charge the battery, we take CO2 that is near atmospheric temperature and pressure and compress it. The heat generated during compression is converted into storage. When we release the thermal energy into the atmosphere, it causes the CO2 to turn into a liquid.
The liquid CO2 is converted into a gas that powers a turbine for the generation and transmission of electrical energy. The CO2 gas is always contained within the system and there is no leakage.
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We use only the best materials. The technology uses steel, CO2 and water. So the battery is not dependent on rarer materials like cobalt or lithium. This property makes technology geopolitically independent. It knows no boundaries – it can be created and used anywhere in the world.
