Image courtesy of Energy Dome

Giant Bubble Of CO2 To Store Renewable Energy For At Least 10 Hours

August 26, 2024August 26, 20243 months ago Tina Casey 0 Comments

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Carbon capture technology has been getting a bad rap these days, partly because oil companies are using the captured CO2 to stimulate their oil wells. Nevertheless, new and beneficial ways to deploy captured carbon are emerging. Energy storage is one potential example. For an idea of what that might look like in the future, let’s check in on a new, long duration energy storage project that can deliver electricity far longer than lithium-ion battery arrays, creating more space for renewable energy development.

Deploying Carbon Dioxide For Long Duration Energy Storage

The project in question is the forthcoming Columbia Energy Storage Project in Pacific, Wisconsin, engineered by the Italian firm Energy Dome. It is hosted by the US gas and electricity supplier Alliant Energy, which has been eagerly pursuing new renewable energy opportunities. A long duration energy storage system would provide Alliant with a powerful new tool for introducing more renewables into its portfolio while smoothing out the bumps in wind and solar availability.

Energy Dome first crossed the CleanTechnica radar back in 2022, after it won recognition from the BNEF Pioneers program of Bloomberg NEF. It was the first Italian company to earn a slot in the program, which aims to identify “the most impactful and original technology innovations for advancing the low-carbon economy.”

“The winning technology is a closed-loop CO2 system that hits the magic 4-hour ceiling for short term energy storage, and then charges past it for up to 24 hours,” CleanTechnica observed.

The key to the system is supercritical CO2, which is the compressed, liquid state of carbon dioxide.

“In charging mode, the CO2 is drawn from an atmospheric gasholder, the Dome, compressed and then stored under pressure at ambient temperature in a high density supercritical or liquid state,” Energy Dome explains. “When energy needs to be released, the CO2 is evaporated and expanded into a turbine, and then returned back to the atmospheric gasholder, ready for the next charging cycle.”

As for what does the compressing, that’s easy. In a grid saturated with renewable energy, excess electricity from wind turbines and solar panels can be deployed to run the compressor.

BNEF is not the only one to take notice. Back in 2022, Utility Dive reported that Energy Dome’s Series A funding round raised $11 million from 360 Capital, Barclays, Novum Capital Partners, and Third Derivative, among others.

$7 Million For Long Duration Energy Storage, Eventually

The source of the carbon dioxide is not evident on Energy Dome’s website, so I’ve reached out to them for more details. If you’d like to take a guess, drop us a note in the comment thread. As a common input for various industries, carbon dioxide is typically sourced through fossil energy refining and production systems. Corn ethanol refining could be another non-fossil resource. Direct air capture and carbon captured from other industrial activities are two other possibilities, remote or not as the case may be.

In the meantime, Alliant emphasizes that the system is a closed loop, meaning that it cycles the same CO2 continuously. Unless there is a leak or an accident, the Columbia Energy Storage project is a zero-emission facility that only needs a one-time infusion of CO2.

Regardless of the source of the carbon dioxide, the US Department of Energy has spotted an opportunity to accelerate both the renewable energy and energy storage industries with Energy Dome’s “CO2 Batteries.” In July, the Energy Department’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations awarded $7 million to the Energy Dome project, as part of a 50-50 cost sharing program aimed at accelerating and integrating more renewables into the grid.

The $7 million covers OCED’s share of Phase I, which involves a timeline of 16-22 months for early stage planning and community engagement.

OCED has published a fact sheet that emphasizes that the Columbia Energy Storage Project will be the first of its kind in the US, though they don’t provide information on the source of the carbon dioxide. More details will be forthcoming as the project progresses. Funding from the Energy Department kicks off a Phase I planning and community engagement period of 16-22 months, so stay tuned for more on that.

More Greenbacks For Green Energy

The $7 million in Energy Department funding is just the tip of the energy storage iceberg. If all goes according to plan, the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations has pledged a 50-50 cost share of up to $30 million.

The Energy Department is not just whistling into the energy storage wind. The $7 million award follows an oversubscribed $60 million Series B round last year, co-led by the corporate venture capital arm of the energy firm Eni and Neva SGR, which is the venture capital arm of the leading financial institution Intesa Sanpaolo. “Other investors that joined the first round included Japan Energy Fund, Barclays’ Sustainable Impact Capital, CDP Venture Capital, 360 Capital, Novum Capital Partners, Gruppo Brixia and Elemental Excelerator,” Energy Dome reported in July of last year.

In addition to returning investors, Energy Dome also listed the venture capital arm of the sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman and the venture capital arm of the A-list tank storage firm Royal Vopak. Energy Dome also noted that investors represented by the investing advisory firm Sagana also participated, along with existing investors 360 Capital and CDP Venture Capital.

Sagana is of particular interest because it focuses on socially responsible investing principles, stating that “it is possible to invest in and grow businesses that are a “win” for everybody — for the founders, employees, investors, society and ultimately the whole planet.”

Energy Dome also draws attention to CDP Venture Capital, noting that the series B investment “inaugurates the operation of the new Green Transition Fund, which uses resources allocated by the EU through the NextGeneration EU initiative with the aim of stimulating the growth of an innovation ecosystem in green transition sectors.”

All this is by way of saying that green investing is baked into the global economy, and it is gathering steam despite the efforts of Republican office holders in the US who have been fighting against ESG (environment, social, governance) investing tooth and nail. So far the anti-ESG movement has been mostly hot air, but that could change depending on the results of the upcoming 2024 elections.

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Image (cropped): The Italian firm Energy Dome’s “CO2 Batteries” deploy carbon dioxide as part of an off-the-shelf supply chain aimed at cutting the cost of long duration energy storage systems (courtesy of Energy Dome).