Energy Dome targets Australian market with carbon-dioxide battery tech
Energy Dome is targeting the Australian market with its carbon dioxide (CO2) battery technology which the company says is designed to enable the seamless integration of intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, into the grid and is ideally suited to regions transitioning away from coal-fired power and facing significant industrial energy demands.
The company has established a regional office in Melbourne and is now “actively identifying” potential sites across Victoria to deploy its long-duration energy storage technology.
Energy Dome’s energy storage system uses CO2 in a closed loop charge/discharge cycle that can store and dispatch renewable energy onto the grid over periods from four to 24 hours.
The system charges by drawing CO2 from an inflatable atmospheric gas holder, which the company calls the ‘dome’ and stores it under 70 bar pressure at ambient temperature in a high-density liquid state. The battery discharges by evaporating the liquefied gas and conveying it through a turbine to produce power. The CO2 is then returned to the dome to be used again for another storage cycle.
Energy Dome said the technology costs 50% less than lithium-ion technology, has a round-trip efficiency of more than 75%, delivers a 100% depth of discharge, and has no performance degradation during its 30-plus year project lifetime.
Established in Italy in 2020, Energy Dome is close to completing a full-scale CO2 battery plant in Sardinia and has signed multiple commercial contracts for its technology to be deployed in the United States and India.
Energy Dome Chief Executive Officer Claudio Spadacini said the company’s Victorian base will provide the ideal foundation for accelerating the deployment of the technology in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
“As coal-fired power stations begin to retire, the need for reliable, long-duration energy storage has never been greater,” he said, noting that the CO2 battery provides a scalable pathway to store massive amounts of intermittent renewable energy.
“It’s the only technology available today offering the right combination of efficiency, cost, scalability and that’s viable globally.”
Victoria Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the arrival of Energy Dome aligns with the state government’s renewable energy ambitions, including the deployment of 2.6 GW of energy storage capacity by 2030, and 6.3 GW by 2035.
“This is a win for our renewable energy transition,” she said. “Energy Dome’s CO2 battery technology is designed to store renewable energy efficiently and cost-effectively, ensuring grid stability and reliability as coal-fired power stations retire. The technology leverages existing infrastructure, such as substations and transmission lines, to store and dispatch solar and wind power when needed most.”
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