Karl Ebert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Fri, September 22, 2023
A carbon-dioxide battery built by Energy Dome in Sardinia, Italy. Alliant Energy was awarded a $30 million federal grant to lead a project to build the first carbon-dioxide battery in the United States.
Alliant Energy will receive a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the first battery system in the U.S. to use carbon dioxide to store and release energy.
The battery, to be built in Columbia County near the utility's Columbia Energy Center, was developed by Energy Dome, an Italian renewable energy company that launched in 2020 and recently completed a funding round that allowed it to scale up for the project and other developments.
The battery technology bypasses the need for rare metals and other challenges associated with lithium battery storage by using only three easily sourced components: carbon dioxide, water and steel, according to the company. The technology was tested at Energy Dome's first large-scale installation in Sardinia, Italy.
How it works is relatively simple.
Energy that flows into the battery is used to compress carbon dioxide gas until it becomes a liquid. The liquid is stored until the energy is needed, at which point the liquid is allowed to warm up and expand, becoming a gas that turns a turbine to create electricity.
The company's name references the large dome that collects and stores the uncompressed carbon dioxide.
More: The village of Boaz in Richland County has a history of blackouts. A new microgrid aims to change that
Battery storage is seen as critical component of ensuring a reliable electric supply as utilities transition to renewable energy because it can be drawn on during times when solar and wind installations aren't producing energy at full capacity such as cloudy days, at night and when winds are weak. The reserve power would also be available during outages or whenever demand outstrips supply.
“As we diversify our energy mix, the added capacity and unique capabilities of energy storage solutions will strengthen our generation portfolio, increase grid resilience, improve reliability and help us continue to meet customer needs," said John Larsen, board chair and CEO of Alliant Energy.
The 20-megawatt battery will be built south of Portage in the town of Pacific. It is a "long-duration" battery that will be able to store enough energy to power about 20,000 homes for 10 hours.
That is significantly longer than lithium-based batteries, which are able to produce backup power for two to four hours.
Despite that limitation, lithium-based batteries are readily available and are the most common form of backup power used by utilities. However, tests are planned or underway across the country of a variety of long-duration battery batteries that incorporate alternative chemistries.
They include an an organic battery that We Energies will test later this year at its Valley Power Plant and Xcel Energy's partnership with Massachusetts-based Form Energy to build iron-air batteries that capture and release energy by creating and dissolving rust.
The Energy Dome battery is considered a pilot project and is substantially smaller than other Alliant battery systems being built in Grant, Wood and Sheboygan counties that will be able to produce a combined 274 megawatts of electricty. Those are all lithium-based battery installations.
Alliant expects to submit a plan early next year to the Wisconsin Public Service Commision for review. Pending approval, construction would begin in 2025 and completed the following year.
The Columbia Energy Storage Project is being led by Alliant in partnership with WEC Energy Group, Madison Gas and Electric, Shell Global Solutions US, Electric Power Research Institute, UW-Madison and Madison College.
No comments:
Post a Comment