BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT, APRIL 23
Well-known Omani contractor ONEIC has announced a partnership with Energy Dome of Italy to offer the latter’s proprietary Long Duration Energy Storage solutions to the Omani market.
Milan-based Energy Dome has developed breakthrough technology that, for the first time, makes Long Duration Energy Storage an economically viable proposition. Its product, the CO2 Battery, relies on proven components and well understood processes making utility scale wind and solar fully dispatchable, says MSX-listed ONEIC.
Energy Dome has developed the CO2 Battery, a thermodynamic process that efficiently and cost effectively stores electrical energy, on a utility scale, with a duration sweet spot ranging from 4 to 24 hours. Whilst the CO2 Battery is a novel process, it relies on off-the-shelf components, has no performance degradation during its 25-year design life and has a highly competitive round-trip efficiency (>75 per cent) with no degradation over time.
Nawaf al Balushi, COO of ONEIC commented: “In Oman, the peak demand is growing by around 6-7.5 per cent annually. According to Oman Vision 2040 , the contribution of renewable energy should reach 20 per cent and 35-39 per cent of total consumption in the years 2030 and 2040 respectively. The Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MoEM) has ambitious plans for green hydrogen projects. To unleash the overall economic benefits and maximise the power efficiency from such projects, energy storage facilities will be necessary.”
Claudio Spadacini, founder and CEO of Energy Dome, stated: “If just 5 per cent of the Middle East desert was used to generate solar power, it could meet all of the 25TWh annual electricity demand of the entire world. The key enabler to make this happen is Long Duration Energy Storage and we are very happy to enter into an agreement with ONEIC of Oman to provide just that. Our CO2 Battery, combined with the installation capabilities of ONEIC, will set a new standard for low cost, efficient energy storage, making solar PV fully dispatchable. We are grateful for ONEIC having selected our technology as their energy storage platform.”
ONEIC and Energy Dome are targeting a rapid uptake the CO2 battery projects in the region with the first CO2 Battery project slated for financial close later this year.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here