Maker of long-duration CO2 Battery partners with wind giant Ørsted
Italian startup Energy Dome yesterday announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Danish wind giant Ørsted. Together, they will run a feasibility study on the deployment of a 20 megawatt (MW)/200 MWh energy storage facility using Energy Dome’s CO2 Battery technology at one or more Ørsted sites.
The partnership’s aim is to use long-duration energy storage to provide baseload renewable energy to Ørsted’s end-use customers in order to provide grid stability. The feasibility study will dispatch renewable energy over periods of 10 hours or longer.
According to Energy Dome, construction could potentially begin on Ørsted’s first 20 MW project, which will be sited in Europe, during the second half of 2024. The MoU includes an option for Energy Dome to develop additional CO2 Battery energy storage facilities for Ørsted.
Kieran White, VP Europe Onshore at Ørsted, said:
We consider the CO2 Battery solution to be a really promising alternative for long-duration energy storage. This technology could potentially help us decarbonize electrical grids by making renewable energy dispatchable.
At the end of June, Energy Dome commenced commercialization when it announced an MoU with Italian utility A2A.
Energy Dome has raised a total of nearly $25 million since the company emerged from stealth mode in February 2020. Its series B round is planned for later in 2022.
How the world’s first CO2 Battery works
Energy Dome sited its debut CO2 Battery in Sardinia to favor speed to market and ease of execution, as it’s in an industrial area with an existing electrical connection. Sardinia currently uses coal, but the fossil fuel will be phased out by 2025. The battery can be paired with both wind and solar.
CO2 is one of the few gases that can be condensed and stored as a liquid under pressure at ambient temperature, so, as Energy Dome states on its website, it’s the perfect fluid to store energy cost-effectively in a closed thermodynamic process. It allows for high-density energy storage without the need to go to extremely low temperatures.
Energy Dome founder and CEO Claudio Spadacini explained how it works to Bloomberg in May:
To charge the battery, we take CO2 at near atmospheric temperature and pressure and we compress it. The heat that is generated during compression is stored. When we exchange the thermal energy with the atmosphere, the CO2 gas becomes liquid.
To generate and dispatch electricity, the liquid CO2 is heated up and converted back into a gas that powers a turbine, which generates power. The CO2 gas is always contained and the entire system is sealed.
We don’t use any exotic materials. The technology uses steel, CO2 and water. So there is no dependency on rare earth materials like cobalt or lithium. This makes our technology geopolitically independent. It can be produced everywhere and it can be used everywhere.
Energy Dome made a short video last year demonstrating how its CO2 energy storage works:
Read more: The world’s largest offshore wind farm is now fully operational
Photo: Energy Dome
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Environment
Lithium giant Albemarle’s plans to reopen a rich mine in North Carolina will take years to complete
The Albemarle lithium processing facility in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022.
Logan Cyrus | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Albemarle‘s plans to reopen a resource rich lithium mine in North Carolina will take longer than originally expected as a collapse in lithium prices weighs on the company.
Albemarle, a top lithium producer, had originally planned to reopen the Kings Mountain mine as early as late 2026 to increase domestic lithium production and support a U.S. electric vehicle battery supply chain.
“It’s going to be a later date,” Eric Norris, president of energy storage at Albemarle, told CNBC. “It slowed down a bit given the concerns we have, but we are still progressing it forward. It’s not that we’ve stopped it.”
Kings Mountain could produce enough material to manufacture 1.2 million electric vehicles annually. The mine sits on one of the world’s richest deposits of spodumene ore, a source of lithium. There is currently only one operational lithium mine in the U.S. in Silver Peak, Nevada, which is owned by Albemarle.
Albemarle does not have a precise date for when Kings Mountain will become operational, Norris said. The company is preparing to start the permitting process, which will take two years to complete. Construction will be a multiyear undertaking before the mine is operational, according to the company.
Albemarle shares over the past year.
The Biden administration has made setting up a battery supply chain, supported by domestic lithium production and processing, a top priority to end dependence on China, which dominates the global market. Albemarle was awarded a $90 million grant from the Defense Department to support domestic mining, which the company is using to help reopen Kings Mountain.
Kings Mountain was an operational lithium mine from 1937 until the 1980s, when the owner Rockwood Holdings ceased operations to focus on resources in Chile. Albemarle acquired Rockwood and the mine in 2015.
Albemarle has come under pressure as global lithium prices have collapsed more than 40% since last year and 81% from 2022 highs, forcing the company to adjust expansion plans. Albemarle put on hold a chemical plant in Richburg, South Carolina, that would have processed the lithium from Kings Mountain.
Albemarle CEO Kent Masters said the industry still needs to add significant capacity as electric vehicle demand remains strong, with more than 20% global growth so far this year, but lithium prices have fallen below the marginal cost of production as supply of the commodity has expanded.
“It’s difficult to justify investment projects where the prices are today,” Masters said.
Lithium prices need to be at a minimum of $20 per kilogram to justify investments, Masters said. The average price in 2023 was $15 per kilogram. The CEO said he expects lithium prices to become less volatile, with lower highs and higher lows, as the market matures.
Albemarle’s profit plummeted 99% to $2.4 million in the first quarter compared with $1.2 billion a year-ago. Revenue fell 47% to $1.36 billion, down from $2.58 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
Though Albemarle took a huge hit compared with last year, the company’s earnings largely met Wall Street expectations, while revenue came in above forecasts. Investors reacted positively to the results with shares closing more than 5% higher at $125.30 on Thursday. On Friday, shares climbed 3% further.
This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes new electric bike models launched by Pedego, a discussion of the rising trend of potted e-bike batteries, Bosch-powered e-bikes enter Taiwan, I also entered Taiwan to test Gogoro’s new Pulse electric scooter, and I also went to China to visit Yadea’s factory for a tour and test riding. Oh, and a lot more!
The Wheel-E podcast returns every two weeks on Electrek’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
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It feels like e-bikes powered by Bosch’s popular mid-drive electric motors have been around in just about every market for as long as many of us can remember. But there are still major markets getting their first taste of the highly-engineered drivetrains. Bosch’s mid-drive motors are now entering Taiwan, rolling in on Tern’s Vektron and Quick Haul e-bikes.
While Tern’s mastery of the Western e-bike markets has led many to assume they are a North American or European brand, the company is actually based in Taiwan.
Their Bosch-powered e-bikes carry an esteemed international reputation for quality and longevity, but so far the company’s domestic market has only had access to its folding and non-electric bikes (I’ve often drooled over the Tern BYB, which offers a design that looks like if Brompton ratched up the style knob several clicks).
Now Tern is launching the Vektron and Quick Haul e-bikes in Taiwan, and in doing so, is bringing the first Bosch-powered electric bikes to the island.
“Taiwan is the global epicenter for quality bicycles and the country has come so far in promoting bikes for recreation and transport,” stated Josh Hon, Tern Team Captain. “With a large portion of Tern Team Members calling Taiwan home, it was easy for us to raise our hands when Bosch suggested entering the Taiwan market. Our bikes also make the most sense for dense cities like Taipei where a compact e-bike is easier to ride and store.”
The Tern Vektron is an ideal urban city e-bike thanks to its tight-folding frame design, which is more compact than most folding e-bikes in its class. These types of folding e-bikes are a common sight in major European capitals where portability is key.
The Vektron is a convenient option for commuters who need to ride to the train station and then fold their e-bike to carry onboard with them into the city.
For those riders who use e-bikes more as a family vehicle than an individual commuter, the Tern Quick Haul offers more cargo and kid-hauling opportunities. Having tested the Quick Haul myself, I can confirm that it’s definitely a car-replacing electric bike thanks to its go-anywhere and carry-anything vibe.
The Quick Haul’s form factor is key, with the company describing it as “brawny enough to safely ferry a passenger or handle 150 kg (330 lb) of load, the Quick Haul is still smaller than a standard city bike.”
Both bikes also feature Bosch powertrains, meaning they sport the complete motor, battery, console, and drive system package.
Electrek’s Take
When I first heard this news, I was surprised to find out that Taiwan didn’t have any Bosch-powered e-bikes yet. After all, Josh Hon is exactly right – it’s the epicenter of the higher-quality e-bike industry. But on second thought (and after a recent trip to Taiwan), I remembered that I didn’t actually see as many e-bikes on the road as I expected, since most two-wheeled commuters seem to love scooters there. Those great bike parts originating in Taiwan are mostly being exported.
Sure, there were certainly many of the types of e-bikes we think of here in the West, and I was impressed with the number of bike lanes around Taipei, but there weren’t the droves of e-bikers like you’d see in Berlin or Amsterdam. Instead, scooters dominate the streets.
But perhaps that’s because they haven’t yet had access to the type of Bosch-powered e-bikes that Berliners treat as their daily drivers. I’m sure I saw just a snapshot in time, and it’s great to hear that the trend is moving upwards towards higher rates of cycling. I guess we’ll have to check back again this time next year to see if Bosch-powered Tern bikes become a common sight on the streets of Taipei!
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