Closed-loop CO2-based energy-storage system slated for Wisconsin – EQ
Alliant Energy was recently selected to receive a $30-million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations for a proposed 200-MWh energy storage system. Alliant Energy’s new battery system, known as the Columbia Energy Storage Project, would be the first-of-its-kind in the U.S.
The Columbia Energy Storage Project would utilize an innovative design by Energy Dome S.p.A. to deliver 10 h of energy-storage capacity by compressing carbon dioxide gas into a liquid. When that energy is needed, the system converts the liquid CO2 back to a gas, which powers a turbine to create electricity. By storing the CO2 in the liquid phase at ambient temperature, Energy Dome is able to reduce the typical storage costs associated with compressed-air energy storage, without having to deal with cryogenic temperatures associated with liquid-air energy storage, the company says. The first commercial demonstration facility of the CO2 Battery — a 4-MWh system located in Sardinia, Italy — was launched in June 2022.
Development of the Columbia Energy Storage Project is being led by Alliant Energy in partnership with WEC Energy Group, Madison Gas and Electric, Shell Global Solutions U.S., the Electric Power Research Institute, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Madison College.
The facility will be built south of Portage, Wis. in the town of Pacific, near the current Columbia Energy Center. Alliant Energy expects to submit project plans to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission in the first half of 2024. Pending approval, project construction could begin in 2025 with completion in 2026.
