A new kind of “carbon dioxide battery” is set to be built in Arizona.
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Startup Energy Dome (recently invested in by Google) has announced a deal to build a 19 MW, 10-hour cutting-edge carbon dioxide-based battery for the Arizona grid. This “thermomechanical” system will store power by pressurizing CO2 when there are excess electrons available on the grid, then letting it expand and turn turbines to generate more power when needed. When complete in 2029, it’ll store enough energy to power 4,275 Arizona homes at a time and will be a key real-world test of the new technology. Carbon dioxide batteries are expected to scale up quickly, as they’re made from commonly available industrial components and don’t need any critical minerals.
This is one example in a burgeoning global expansion for the technology. There’s an 18 MW energy project in Wisconsin set to be complete by 2027. Google and Energy Dome have announced a partnership to build another 23 MW thermomechanical system in Ireland. And they’re all following in the footsteps of the first Energy Dome system, operational since 2025 in Sardinia, Italy. China is reportedly building similar systems in Xinjiang, though public details are scarce.
This is a welcome new long-duration energy storage innovation! Well-established electrochemical batteries (lithium-ion, sodium-ion, iron-air, and many more!) are advancing rapidly and have already transformed grids from California to China to Australia, but we nevertheless need all the power storage methods we can get to ensure abundant 24/7 clean electricity. The more the merrier! Pumped hydro “water batteries,” heat-absorbing “sand batteries,” and Energy Dome’s extremely promising new “CO2 battery” are all great examples that need to be scale up as fast as possible. State leaders should actively accelerate these innovations by working with utilities to ensure a maximally supportive procurement and permitting process. Let’s build faster!
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Your Dose of Climate Hope is written by Sam Matey-Coste for Climate Action Now.
