Energy Dome, an Italy-based company which has developed a novel CO2-based long-duration energy storage system, has closed an US$11 million bridge funding round.
The convertible funding was led by the Evolution Fund of asset management firm CDP Venture Capital Sgr, together with existing investor Barclays through the latter’s Sustainable Impact Capital programme targeting early-stage companies accelerating the transition to net zero.
Another existing investor, Swiss family office Novum Capital Partners, also participated in the round which brings Energy Dome’s total fundraising to nearly US$25 million, in advance of its Series B round, which is planned for later in the year.
The company’s first major project, a 2.5MW/4MWh CO2 Battery facility is now fully operational and the bridge financing will allow it to accelerate the development of its larger, ten-hour duration 20MW/200MWh system. Specifically, it will purchase orders for the turbomachinery equipment needed for that project, which it described as ‘long lead time’ equipment.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the utility-scale project was signed with A2A, a European utility, in December 2021 although it was touted back then to be a five-hour, 100MWh project by an Energy Dome spokesperson speaking to Energy-Storage.news.
Energy Dome’s technology uses a thermodynamic cycle to store and dispatch energy with a 4-24 hour duration. It ‘charges’ by drawing carbon dioxide from a large atmospheric gasholder (the Dome, pictured) and storing it under pressure at an ambient temperature, and dispatches by evaporating and expanding the gas into a turbine to generate electricity and return it back to the Dome.
Energy Dome says its technology is based on a novel industrial process which integrates off-the-shelf components using established supply chains. It claims an energy storage density 10-20 times higher than other compressed air energy storage (CAES) solutions. It concedes it can only hit two-thirds of liquid air energy storage’s (LAES) density but says its solution does not require the cryogenic temperatures of LAES which can make the system less competitive.
Commenting on the bridge financing, Claudio Spadacini, founder and CEO of Energy Dome said: “This important achievement will sustain our ambitious growth. I would like to welcome CDP Venture Capital Sgr into our team and to thank them, Barclays, and Novum Capital Partners for their trust in Energy Dome as we’re poised to become a leading solution provider for the long-duration energy storage market.”
Alongside its MOU with A2A, Energy Dome also has a global licensing agreement with Italian power engineering firm Ansaldo Energia for the latter to commercialise Energy Dome’s technology in its core markets.