Google Will Help Scale 'Long-Duration Energy Storage' Solution for Clean Power

'Google has signed its first partnership with a long-duration energy storage company,' reports Data Center Dynamics. 'The tech giant signed a long-term partnership with Energy Dome to support multiple commercial deployments worldwide to help scale the company's CO2 battery technology.'

Google explains in a blog post that the company's technology 'can store excess clean energy and then dispatch it back to the grid for 8-24 hours, bridging the gap between when renewable energy is generated and when it is needed.' Reuters explains the technology:
Energy Dome's CO2-based system stores energy by compressing and liquefying carbon dioxide, which is later expanded to generate electricity. The technology avoids the use of scarce raw materials such as lithium and copper, making it potentially attractive to European policymakers seeking to reduce reliance on critical minerals and bolster energy security.

'Unlike other gases, CO2 can be compressed at ambient temperatures, eliminating the need for expensive cryogenic features,' notes CleanTechnica, calling this 'a unique new threat to fossil fuel power plants.' Google's move 'means that more wind and solar energy than ever before can be put to use in local grids,'
Pumped storage hydropower still accounts for more than 90% of utility scale storage in the US, long duration or otherwise... Energy Dome claims to beat lithium-ion batteries by a wide margin, currently aiming for a duration of 8-24 hours. The company aims to hit the 10-hour mark with its first project in the U.S., the 'Columbia Energy Storage Project' under the wing of the gas and electricity supplier Alliant Energy to be located in Pacific, Wisconsin... [B]ut apparently Google has already seen more than enough. An Energy Dome demonstration project has been shooting electricity into the grid in Italy for more than three years, and the company recently launched a new 20-megawatt commercial plant in Sardinia.


Google points out this is one of several Google clean energy initiatives:

In June Google signed the largest direct corporate offtake agreement for fusion energy with Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
In October Google agreed to purchase 'advanced nuclear' power from multiple small modular reactors being developed by Kairos Power.
Google also partnered with a clean-energy startup to develop a geothermal power project that contributes carbon-free energy to the electric grid.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.