Startup develops thermal storage batteries from renewable energy to serve heavy industry

Startup company, Rondo Energy, based in California, USA, is developing a thermal storage battery system with temperatures up to 1.200 degrees Celsius to serve the needs of heavy industries. It is worth noting that Rondo Energy will take advantage of cheap and abundant renewable energy sources on windy and sunny days to charge and generate heat for this battery system.

By using renewable energy sources, Rondo Energy's battery system can store temperatures of more than 1.200 degrees Celsius to provide heat for industrial boilers. 

Rondo Energy's initiative will help solve two problems plaguing the transition to renewable energy: finding ways to power heavy industry without burning fossil fuels; and handling excess electricity causes electricity prices to decrease when wind and solar energy are abundant on sunny and windy days.

Eliminating the industrial sector's dependence on fossil fuels would bring major climate benefits. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the industrial sector accounts for 23% of global carbon emissions, most of which comes from burning coal to create high temperatures for processes such as steelmaking and cement production. bamboo shoots.

Rondo Energy also promotes that its thermal storage battery technology will benefit renewable energy companies facing business difficulties.

In places like California, adding solar capacity to the grid has led to a surplus of electricity on sunny days, putting pressure on electricity prices and sometimes pushing prices into negative territory. That is undermining the economics of adding clean power to the grid, said Zeke Hausfather, director of climate and energy at the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental research organization. , based in California.

Mr. John O'Donnell, CEO of Rondo Energy.

Rondo Energy CEO John O'Donnell said new uses for renewable energy sources could help avoid wasting them, such as the company's battery technology for industrial production. company, will encourage the renewable energy industry to increase capacity.

“Industrial heat supplied in this way becomes a solution to many problems in the power grid,” he said.

Rondo Energy has caught the eye of big-name investors. Last week, the company said it raised $22 million from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate-focused venture capital fund founded by billionaire Bill Gates, and Energy Impact. Partners, another venture capital fund.

Rondo Energy has not revealed all the details about how its technology for developing thermal batteries from renewable energy sources will work. O'Donnell, who previously worked in the solar industry, said Rondo Energy's battery thermal storage system uses heat storage materials that are "proven safe" and have been widely used in industrial production processes.

He said the magic of this technology lies in the shape of the heat-storing bricks and the control system operated by artificial intelligence to heat these bricks.

Rondo Energy is not the only company that sees business potential in taking advantage of cheap renewable energy in times of surplus. In early February, Holcim Construction Materials Manufacturing Group (Switzerland) said it was cooperating with Engie Electric Group (France) to commercialize thermal storage batteries made from cement for heating buildings. .

“There are a lot of smart scientists trying to figure out how to effectively use free electricity,” said Zeke Hausfather. He said the big challenge for them is the intermittent supply of renewable energy. This clean energy source is only abundant and cheap on sunny and windy days, meaning it cannot be relied upon to provide power around the clock. Meanwhile, costly renewable energy storage systems such as lithium-ion batteries add to the cost, weakening the economics for renewable energy.

He believes that the best alternatives to lithium-ion batteries should be those that do not require a lot of investment and can still earn good profits even when operated intermittently, that is, only operating at times. Cheap electricity price point thanks to abundant wind and solar power supply.

O'Donnell believes the efficiency of Rondo Energy's battery thermal storage system will help industrial customers save on fuel costs by occasionally running the system while keeping their boilers running on fuel. fossil.

Rondo Energy's technology has not yet been proven in practice. But O'Donnell said the capital will allow Rondo Energy to move out of the lab to set up manufacturing facilities and sell battery storage systems to industrial customers this year. He revealed that his company is talking to potential customers around the world. “We are excited about the role we can play in the ambitious offshore wind projects underway across the board, especially in Europe,” he said.

According to Saigon Economics