Google and energy storage startup Energy Dome announced the launch of a new long-term partnership, alongside a strategic investment by Google, aimed at deploying Energy Dome’s advanced long-term energy storage (LDES) solution globally, and addressing a key challenge enabling the use of 24/7 clean energy.
Energy storage forms one of the key building blocks for the rapidly expanding clean energy transition, given the intermittent generating nature of many sources of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, and the need to satisfy round-the-clock energy demand, while ensuring that energy is not wasted, particularly as demand on the grid grows from areas such as transport electrification and AI computing.
Founded in 2019, Milan, Italy-based Energy Dome enables expanded use of renewable energy by making solar and wind power dispatchable using its CO2 Battery, utilizing thermodynamic processes to use CO2 as an energy storage fluid at ambient temperature, and providing energy when the CO2 warms up, expands and turns a turbine to generate electricity, for dispatch into the grid as needed.
Energy Dome’s CO2 Battery solves one of the key challenges of energy storage through its ability to continuously dispatch energy for up to 24 hours, compared with current technologies such as lithium-ion batteries, which typically have much more shorter-term capabilities for storage and dispatch.
Google parent Alphabet announced a 24/7 CFE ambition in 2020, aiming to run its entire business on carbon-free energy (CFE) by 2030, including matching electricity demand with CFE supply every hour of every day, in every region where the company operates.
The new agreement is Google’s first commercial long-duration energy storage deal, and part of a portfolio of technologies being deployed to achieve its CFE goal, according to the companies.
Claudio Spadacini, Founder and CEO of Energy Dome, said:
“The programmatic and strategic deployment of our technology at scale to help Google reach carbon-free energy represents the core of our industry-first agreement. We’re proving that a 24/7 cost-effective and carbon-free energy supply is achievable with the right technology and partnership model.”
Under the new agreement, Google will support multiple commercial deployments of Energy Dome’s technology in key geographical strategic areas, including Europe, America, and Asia-Pacific, with a pipeline of sites and projects currently in development and contracting stages already identified. Beyond the commercial collaboration, Google has also made an investment in Energy Dome.
Among the key benefits of LDES technology highlighted by Google was its potential to commercialize much faster than some other clean energy technologies, enabling its use in the near term to more flexibly and reliably grow the electricity system, with the new partnership aimed at helping bring the technology to scale faster, and at lower cost.
Maud Texier, Director of EMEA Energy at Google, said:
“Google is committed to powering our operations with clean energy, and Energy Dome’s technologically proven and scalable long-duration energy storage solution can help us unlock rapid progress. But this isn’t just about Google. By helping to scale this first-of-a-kind LDES technology, we hope to help communities everywhere gain greater access to reliable, affordable electricity and support grid resilience as we integrate more renewable energy sources.”
