Carbon dioxide rescues the power grid

Solar power is the only solid-state energy technology. It doesn’t require any moving parts or fuel to do its job for years on end. And, like computer chips, it gets more powerful and cheaper all the time.

But there’s a dark side to cheap solar power; while it empowers individuals to contribute to the energy internet, it also threatens to make power utilities, and the national grid, bankrupt and obsolete. And like it or not, we need the grid for stability. Microgrids are just too fragile, when there’s too much or too little energy to meet demand.

Utility scale batteries are the answer, and lithium is king of the battery technologies, but has its limitations. For long duration, high efficiency energy storage you need something better and more affordable.

Enter the energy dome. A system that stores renewable energy as liquified gas and releases it again on demand, to drive turbines that power the grid. And what better gas than carbon dioxide? It’s denser than air, inert and non-toxic, and easier to compress and liquify than something like nitrogen.

From humble beginnings as a startup backed by Google in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint, the Energy Dome has emerged as a key technology to efficiently store all that excess solar power on sunny days, and keep feeding it back to the grid – all week if necessary. Again and again, endlessly recyclable, and easily topped up when necessary.

Who would have thought, just a few years ago, that the demon gas of climate change, CO2, would one day solve the storage problem? And rescue the power grid.