Energy Dome Raises $11 M to Build Cost-cutting CO2 Battery

Energy Dome, an Italian energy storage technology company founded in 2019, has announced the close of its $11M Series A fundraise. The company will use the proceeds to complete the construction of its CO2 battery demonstration project in Sardinia, Italy, a product that is said to store energy at about half of the cost of storing with similar sized lithium-ion batteries.

The CO2 Battery’s optimal charge/discharge cycle ranges from 4 to 24 hours, positioning it well for daily and intra-day cycling, a fast-growing market segment that is not well served by existing battery technologies. Notably, the CO2 Battery can be charged during daytime when there is surplus solar generation and dispatched during the subsequent evening and next-morning peaks, when solar generation falls short of demand. The modular, scalable energy storage solution is expected to allow for solar and wind generation to be dispatchable 24 hours per day.

Using low-cost, off-the-shelf components in a patented, closed thermodynamic process, CO2 Battery achieves a 75-80% round-trip efficiency, states the company. And, unlike lithium-ion batteries that suffer significant performance degradation during their 7-10 year design life, the CO2 Battery maintains its performance during its expected 25 year operational life, claims Energy Dome, adding, the cost of storing energy will be about half of the cost of storing with similar sized lithium-ion batteries.

“Grid systems across the world need effective, low-cost storage to pair with renewable energy,” said Claudio Spadacini, founder and CEO of Energy Dome. “We’re excited to be leveraging this investment and agreement to accelerate our deployment of this transformational technology. We thank all of the supporters who made today’s announcement possible.”

The round was led by deep technology venture capital firm 360 Capital. Other participating investors included Barclays’ Sustainable Impact Capital programme, a division of the banking giant Barclays which takes an impact investment approach, Geneva-based multi-family office Novum Capital Partners, and Third Derivative, a global climate technology start-up accelerator founded by RMI and New Energy Nexus.

“Energy Dome has achieved this paradigm shift in the cost of storage by using CO2 in a closed loop cycle where it changes from gas, to liquid and back to gas. The titular “dome” is an inflatable atmospheric gas holder filled with CO2 in its gaseous form. When charging, the system draws electrical power from the electric grid, which feeds a motor. The motor drives a compressor which draws CO2 from the dome and compresses it, generating heat which is stored in a thermal energy storage device. The CO2 is then liquified under pressure and stored in liquid CO2 vessels, at ambient temperature, to complete the charging cycle,” states the company.

“When discharging, the cycle is reversed by evaporating the liquid CO2, recovering the heat from the thermal energy storage system, and expanding the hot CO2 into a turbine, which drives a generator. Electricity is returned to the grid and the CO2 re-inflates the dome without emissions to the atmosphere, ready for the next charging cycle. The system components are standardised and modular, allowing for up to 200 MWh in storage capacity, and targeting a wide range of customers including utilities, independent power producers, grid operators, industrial applications and remote mining Operations,” it adds.