The world's first 2.5MW/4MWh co2 long-term energy storage project comes online

Energy Dome officially launched the world's first carbon dioxide battery pilot project in Nooro province, Sardinia, Italy, storing just 4 megawatt hours of Energy with a maximum output of 2.5 megawatts.

The company says the battery's performance meets expectations in terms of long life and round-trip efficiency, and plans to build another 20MWH / 200MWH fully commercialized project by the end of 2023.

The pilot project is located in an industrial area with existing power connections and is planned to operate commercially on the grid as independent energy storage to provide the most needed regulatory services to the grid. Sardinia currently uses coal for electricity and will phase out fossil fuels by 2025. Carbon dioxide batteries can be used with wind and solar power.

The world's first 2.5MW/4MWh co2 long-term energy storage project comes onlineThe Energy Dome's CARBON dioxide batteries take up less space than compressed air systems. Carbon dioxide expands dramatically when it goes from liquid to gas, and it can only stabilize at pressures at least five times higher than earth's atmosphere. The batteries in the Energy Dome use huge domes with large, flexible pouches filled with carbon dioxide gas. It "charges" the battery by using energy to run an electric compressor that squeezes the gas into smaller and smaller volumes, eventually condensing it into a liquid that can be stored at ambient temperatures. This charging process generates waste heat, which is collected into the thermal storage system. As long as the pressure remains constant, carbon dioxide will be there for a long time. When energy is needed, the system uses its stored heat to evaporate carbon dioxide, and as the carbon expands into the dome, a set of turbines feed energy back into the grid.

Energy Dome says this solution has a round-trip efficiency of over 75 percent. Its equalization storage costs will reach $50-60 per megawatt hour within a few years, much less than the $132-245 per megawatt hour used with lithium batteries.

Energy Dome recently signed a cooperative agreement with Italian utility COMPANY A2A to build a 20 MW facility with five hours of storage capacity. The company has also signed an agreement with Ansaldo, an industrial group, to develop and build long-term energy storage projects in Italy, Germany, the Middle East and Africa.

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