EU and Bill Gates fund back superhot brick batteries to help green industry
Three heat battery facilities will help decarbonise food, clean fuel and chemical production across Europe by storing excess wind and solar power for when it’s needed
The EU and a Bill Gates innovation fund are backing three projects to decarbonise European industry using brick batteries that store excess renewable energy as heat.
The European Commission, European Investment Bank (EIB) and Breakthrough Energy – the innovation vehicle of Microsoft founder Gates – today announced €75m ($80m) in funding for the projects.
The funding will help California start-up Rondo Energy, the developer of the batteries, to expand its European presence and build projects under long-term contracts.
The funding helps put Rondo “firmly on the path to helping to eliminate the green premium for industrial heat electrification and to becoming a fully bankable technology which can be deployed at scale,” said its CEO Eric Trusiewicz.
The EIB loan and grant from Breakthrough Energy, an early supporter of Rondo, underpin the start-up’s “development throughout Europe, where we see very strong tailwinds to the adoption of our technology,” he said.
Covestro, a manufacturer of polymer materials and their components, has selected Rondo to store and deliver clean energy at a production facility in Germany.
Another Rondo heat battery will replace fossil fuel use at a green and circular industrial park in Denmark. A third project that will tap solar power is also planned for an unnamed European producer in the food and beverage sector.
The Rondo system uses electric elements like those in a toaster or oven to heat thousands of tons of brick up to temperatures of 1,500°C. Rondo says the bricks maintain the heat with less than 1% energy loss daily.
When energy is needed, air flows up through the brick stack and is superheated to over 1,000°C, before being delivered to the end point as superheated air or steam.
Rondo says its system is designed to drop into existing industrial facilities or power new-builds, and offers a fast, low-cost pathway to decarbonisation and reduced operating costs.
The bricks can both “charge” and deliver heat simultaneously. Other claimed benefits include the abundant nature of the key materials and the safety of having no moving or flammable components.
“Rondo’s technology offers industry a unique opportunity to decarbonize with inexpensive renewable electricity,” said Mario Fernandez, head of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, adding this is “crucial at a time when European manufacturers are urgently looking for ways to eliminate their dependence on natural gas.”
“The green transition requires massive investment for innovative technologies to replace industrial processes based on fossil fuels,” said EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros. “We are delighted to support Rondo’s first-of-a-kind energy storage units.”