Long Duration Energy Storage Council (LDES Council)

The LDES Council is pleased to release its Annual Report 2024. The report offers a current perspective and accounting on the global policy, regulatory and market environment for LDES, along with updated data and industry use cases. The report outlines the state of the #energy sector, including key reasons to build, deploy, and scale LDES technology, key findings about global LDES deployment, and seven critical enabling strategies and actions, so-called enablers, to accelerate the rollout of LDES. Access the Annual Report here: https://lnkd.in/gyXPnpyh Access the News Release here: https://lnkd.in/gQqAuSuB #LDESenablers are essential to deploy #1500GWby2030.

The Long Duration Energy Storage Council wishes everyone a joyous holiday season! We look forward to the opportunities the new year will bring to accelerate #LDES deployments toward a #decarbonised clean energy future. Happy holidays and here's to a brighter, greener 2025!

Member Hyme has signed an agreement with Arla Foods, a Danish dairy producer, for a 200 MWh thermal energy storage plant, highlighting the role of thermal energy storage in industrial decarbonisation. The project, located in Holstebro, Denmark, will support Arla's milk powder facility and utilise Hyme's thermal energy storage technologies with molten salt as a heat storage medium. The system will deliver renewable heat on demand, enabling up to a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions. “It will demonstrate that reducing CO2 emissions in large-scale industries is both feasible and economically attractive. We believe this project will serve as a blueprint for future deployments and encourage other industry leaders to join the energy transition,” said Nis Benn, Chief Commercial Officer at Hyme Energy. By providing reliable, #renewable heat at scale, thermal energy storage is increasingly recognised as a critical, cost-effective solution for #decarbonising industrial heat, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and accelerating the energy transition globally. To learn more, click below:

Congratulations to members Energy Dome and ENGIE for signing a pioneering storage offtake agreement for what the organisations believe will be the only operational energy storage asset in the global market with a 10-hour discharge duration, marking a milestone in the commercial deployment of long duration energy storage technologies.   Located in Ottana, Sardinia, Italy, the system will feature a 20 MW/200 MWh CO2 Battery capable of providing electricity for approximately 14,000 households, the project is scheduled for commissioning in the first quarter of 2025. Under the agreement, Energy Dome will own and operate the CO2 Battery facility, while ENGIE will optimise and dispatch the stored energy in the Italian power markets.   “Our agreement with ENGIE confirms our deployment readiness, validates our business model, and underlines the market-leading value proposition of our technology. The era of deployment has arrived, and this collaboration will undoubtedly accelerate our mission to decarbonise the world by providing sustainable, utility-scale energy storage,” said Claudio Spadacini, CEO of Energy Dome.   The partnership is another clear signal of the growing #LDES marketplace, offering key benefits such as advancing #decarbonisation, improving grid reliability, and enabling the integration of renewable energy for a more sustainable future. To learn more, click below:

Thank you to member Hydrostor for spotlighting the LDES Council’s Annual Report in their latest blog post, “Racing to the Future: Why LDES Must Scale Fast for Global Energy Stability.” We’re delighted to see the inaugural Annual Report continue to resonate with members and stakeholders, providing valuable insights into the global policy, regulatory, and market landscape for #LDES. The message is clear: to secure a sustainable energy future, LDES projects must scale 50 times faster than current projections. The Council’s database currently calculates 0.22 TW of current LDES deployments, yet achieving net zero requires at least 1 TW by 2030 and as much as 8 TW by 2040. While ambitious, the LDES Council’s inaugural report provides a global roadmap with actionable steps to accelerate LDES deployment worldwide. The report identifies seven key strategies, grouped by theme, to help policymakers, regulators, technology providers, and end users create a supportive environment and accelerate the global LDES marketplace. By driving LDES #deployment and supporting greater education, engagement and collaboration, we can build reliable #renewable energy systems that meet global #decarbonisation goals and enable a #sustainable energy future. Click here to read the Annual Report: https://lnkd.in/gyXPnpyh To read Hydrostor's blog post, click below:

Member MGA Thermal has been selected by Chevron to conduct an engineering and design study for a 5MWh clean steam LDES system, addressing the growing demand for #sustainable energy in heavy industry. The study, designed for a Chevron site, is expected to conclude by the end of 2024 and will evaluate the potential of long duration energy storage technologies to support the shift to clean energy industrial operations. Delivering steam at temperatures ranging from 150°C to over 550°C, MGA’s thermal energy storage systems store intermittent #renewable energy as heat, which can be converted back into electricity to ensure a continuous, scalable, and reliable 24/7 supply of industrial heat. Our collaboration with MGA Thermal is just one example of the forward-thinking required to deliver on our strategy to reduce the carbon intensity of our operations and advance new solutions for major industries,” said Luc Huyse, Manager, Operations and Facilities at Chevron. "We look forward to the insights this study provides as we continue our journey towards a lower-carbon future.” To learn more, click below:

Congratulations to member Malta Inc for receiving the EUPD Research Top Innovation Award in the Storage - Middle East & Africa category, highlighting Malta's contributions to the energy storage field with its steam-based long duration energy storage technology. Recognised in the global energy industry for over 22 years, the EUPD Research Top Innovation Award highlights innovations that meet high standards of technological advancement, environmental stewardship, and industry impact. “This recognition underscores our commitment to providing advanced energy storage solutions that address the unique challenges of the MEA region. The Malta system is designed to operate seamlessly in any location, free from geological dependencies, empowering a more sustainable and resilient energy landscape,” said Eren Engur, Malta's Managing Director of Middle East & Africa. By utilising steam-based heat pump technology, Malta’s #LDES solutions integrate with existing energy infrastructure to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, enhance #sustainability, accelerate #decarbonisation and strengthen global energy security. To learn more, click here: https://lnkd.in/dHsz5ZjG

Maine is moving forward with its next phase of energy storage development with a $147 million federally funded project for Form Energy to deploy an 85 MW/8500 MWh multi-day battery system, highlighting the role of #LDES in the state’s energy transition. Located at the site of a former paper mill in Lincoln, the system uses iron-air electrochemical reactions to deliver #renewable power for up to 100 hours and store energy at a lower cost than lithium-ion batteries, supporting #sustainability and #decarbonisation in the state. Maine currently has 63 megawatts of installed energy storage capacity. Under targets set by a 2021 law signed by Governor Janet Mills, the state aims to reach 300 megawatts by the end of 2025 and 400 megawatts by 2030—enough to meet the energy needs of approximately 400,000 homes. Dan Burgess, Director of the Governor's Energy Office, said, “[The governor’s office] looks forward to working with the commission to advance a storage procurement for Maine that enhances our electric grid, provides essential load flexibility, and helps stabilise energy prices by reducing our reliance on costly, imported fossil fuels.” To learn more, click here:

Energy security requires energy storage. Last week, LDES Council Director of Policy and Partnerships Alex Campbell spoke at a workshop co-organised by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Breakthrough Energy , introducing LDES technologies, the scale of the deployment challenge, and #LDESenablers. Campbell's insights at "Bridging the Gap: Accelerating Long Duration Energy Storage from Innovation to Investment - Financing Strategies for Scaling Low-Carbon Projects to Final Investment Decisions" set the stage for an in-depth discussion addressing strategies to accelerate LDES deployment. To scale up the deployment of LDES, seven key enablers are required: 1. Raise awareness of LDES technologies: Stakeholders must understand the benefits and operational characteristics of LDES to increase demand for and reap the benefits of these solutions. 2. Conduct assessment of need: LDES must be incorporated into energy system designs and #decarbonisation planning to ensure that the least-cost mix of assets is deployed in the right place at the right time. 3. Set LDES targets: LDES targets provide clarity, direction and accountability for policymakers, industry, investors and stakeholders. Quantifiable targets can be tracked and progress measured. Storage targets provide context for the necessary enabling policy measures and send a clear signal for investment. 4. Allocate pre-commercial funding: Public funding is important to help LDES advance from the demonstration and pre-commercial stages to #commercialdeployment. Historically, support for emerging infrastructure has enhanced economies of scale and accelerated deployment. Funds and grants provide greater revenue certainty to investors, enabling them to finance the upfront costs of projects. 5. Provide market access and long-term revenue visibility: LDES assets should be able to participate in a wide range of #energy markets, including ancillary services and wholesale markets. This will both strengthen the business case for LDES and reduce overall system costs. 6. Implement efficient grid pricing: Regulators should ensure that #gridprices reflect supply and demand principles, to drive efficient markets that send better pricing signals to participants. Where possible, these signals should not include unnecessary or distortionary fees. 7. Enable ease of connection: Efficient planning, permitting and connection will avoid bottlenecks in resource and infrastructure deployment, including LDES. Delays increase costs for investors and reduce overall system benefits. Some regions are introducing accelerated approval processes for non-firm grid connection projects. Faster approvals can facilitate the additional deployment of other generating assets, including renewable energy. The #urgency is clear: LDES needs to scale up 50 times faster than currently projected to meet global renewable targets. Conversations like these are essential to begin bridging the gap from innovation to investment.

Member Energy Vault has announced a strategic partnership with RackScale Data Centers, an emerging data centre developer, to deliver 2GW of power, highlighting the growing role of LDES technologies to supply reliable, clean energy to meet growing power demand from data centres. According to Goldman Sachs Research, data centre power demand is expected to increase by 160% by 2030. Set to begin construction in 2026, the partnership will provide primary power to RackScale’s data centre sites by deploying Energy Vault’s B-Nest battery energy storage systems. Designed to house batteries for onsite energy storage with up to 1.6GWh of energy per acre, the B-Nest ensures over 10 hours of discharge, providing space-constrained sites with 24/7 access to reliable, #renewable energy. “The safety, energy density, and economics of the B-Nest solution are ideally suited to meet the needs of the data centre market,” said Marco Terruzzin, Energy Vault’s Chief Commercial and Product Officer. “We look forward to partnering with RSDC to deploy critical power infrastructure to support their ambitious growth plans.” To learn more, click below: