Rondo Energy brings Southeast Asia’s first industrial heat battery online in Thailand

Rondo Energy has switched on Southeast Asia’s first industrial heat battery with a 33 MWh installation integrated with a cement plant’s heat recovery system. According to Rondo Energy, it is the only heat battery worldwide driving a steam turbine. 

The project, built in partnership with Siam Cement Group (SCG), is now operating at SCG’s facility in Saraburi Province, Thailand. 

Rondo Energy stated that the heat battery delivers a thermal output of 2.3 MW of continuous steam, charging from the grid and a nearby floating solar farm with an unspecified size, driving a turbine to produce electricity.

Rondo Energy CEO Eric Trusiewicz outlined the project’s wins for the company.

“Today we’re announcing three big steps in Rondo’s journey,” Trusiewicz said.

“We’re launching our first unit that is part of our new modular sizing approach, our first heat battery in Southeast Asia, and the only one worldwide delivering high-pressure steam used for electric power generation.”

“This project shows that powering industry with clean energy is not just possible – it’s economical and fast,” Trusiewicz said. 

“Our team and SCG built this first-of-its-kind system in just eight months. It’s a model for how industry can go electric anywhere in the world.”

The Thailand battery follows Rondo’s 100 MWh solar-powered heat battery in California and a Portugese installation for EDP, where Rondo’s solar and 100 MWh heat battery powers Heineken operations in Portugal. The company’s progress in scaling its technology across different markets and continents is defying some struggles for longer-duration storage to go beyond pilot and subsidized operations.

Rondo Energy says it further has projects in the works in Germany and Denmark.

Update November 24: A correction was made to how heat drives a turbine.