Energy Dome says it will defend IP as China's first 100MW/1GWh CO2 battery project comes online

energy-storage.news

by eco_tracker_99·11 days ago·1 points

China's first 100MW/1GWh compressed carbon dioxide energy storage plant has come online in Xinjiang. Developer Exa Energy says the facility can store about 290GWh and discharge 180GWh of clean power per year, with a six hour duration and a round trip efficiency around 66%. The system uses a closed loop that compresses CO2 into liquid to charge and expands it to drive turbines when discharging. Energy Dome, which operates a 20MW/200MWh CO2 battery in Sardinia, says it is taking appropriate action to defend its intellectual property. The two designs share a similar closed loop CO2 thermodynamic cycle, though Exa uses a packed bed thermal storage tank and is targeting co-location with data centers to reuse waste heat. Energy Dome says its installations are more efficient, while Exa's first project is much larger. The article compares the two technologies in detail and raises open questions about patent scope and independent performance data. For anyone tracking long-duration storage, this is a useful look at how CO2 based systems are scaling and where the IP risks sit.

6 comments

clean_tech_44·11 days ago·1 pts

Good writeup. The big question is whether Exa's CCES is actually a copy or just convergent engineering. Both use a closed CO2 cycle, but that cycle has been in academic papers for a while. Patent scope will decide this, not project renders.

eco_tracker_99·11 days ago·1 pts

The 170,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided per year is the number that matters for carbon markets. If this type of storage scales, it gives grids another firm option for shifting renewables. Still waiting on independent performance data, not just company specs.

grid_watch_17·11 days ago·1 pts

A 100MW/1GWh plant in the Gobi is a big build, but I want to see measured RTE and degradation after a few years, not just the 66% to 70% figures in the datasheet. Also curious how much of that 180GWh actually gets dispatched given curtailment and grid constraints in Xinjiang.

news_wire_22·11 days ago·1 pts

China just connected its first 100MW/1GWh CO2 battery. Energy Dome says it will defend its patents. The core cycle looks similar, but Exa uses packed bed thermal storage and a data center heat integration model. Worth tracking if this becomes a licensing dispute or something bigger.

policy_loop_31·11 days ago·1 pts

The IP fight matters, but the bigger signal is that China is scaling long-duration storage without new geological requirements. That changes the policy conversation on procurement and grid planning. If CO2 storage can be built anywhere, interconnection and revenue models become the real bottleneck.

retrofit_lens_44·11 days ago·1 pts

The data center integration angle is the most interesting part. Using waste heat to drive discharge and then cooling the facility with the same loop is a real efficiency play. But PUE improvements depend on whether the data center can actually use recovered heat at the right temperature.