Use Your Dome

Orsted, Energy Dome testing out new CO2 battery

Danish renewable energy company Orsted, which made its bones in the wind power sector, is working on a new battery that could potentially convert CO2 into electrical power.

While the innovative-sounding project with Milan-based Energy Dome seems promising, not all are believers. One early response from a Twitter user begins: "It's a STUNNINGLY inefficient way to make a 'battery'..."

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the project was announced September 27 between Energy Dome and Ørsted "to run a feasibility study on the deployment of a 20 MW / 200 MWh energy storage facility using Energy Dome’s CO2 Battery technology at one or more Ørsted sites."

The partnership aims to use long-duration energy storage to provide baseload renewable energy to Ørsted’s end-use customers, mitigating the growing variability in energy supply, and providing grid stability services. The agreement includes an option to develop multiple additional CO2 Battery energy storage facilities, with the potential for the first 20 MW project slated to begin construction already during the second half of 2024.

While blogging dissenters are making their voices heard, here's what the companies spearheading to project had to say in support:

Kieran White, VP Europe Onshore at Ørsted, said: “As a company focused on quickly scaling the build-out of wind, solar, Power-to-X and other renewable energy solutions, we are delighted to work with Energy Dome to explore how we can deploy their innovative long-duration energy storage technology. We consider the CO2 Battery solution to be a really promising alternative for long-duration energy storage. This technology could potentially help us decarbonise electrical grids by making renewable energy dispatchable.”

Claudio Spadacini, Founder and CEO of Energy Dome, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with Ørsted, a clean energy pioneer and the world’s most sustainable energy company, on our shared vision of deploying as much energy storage as possible to enable 100 % renewable energy on the grid. Energy Dome looks forward to helping Ørsted achieve their renewable energy and energy storage goals as they expand into new markets.”