Introduction
Google and Energy Dome are building a 23 MW/200 MWh
carbon dioxide battery in County Offaly, Ireland — no lithium, no cobalt, no
rare earths. Here's how it works and why it matters.
Most people think of batteries as
boxes full of lithium and cobalt. Ireland is about to prove that idea wrong.
In County Offaly, on the site of an old peat-fired power station, Google and the Italian energy storage company Energy Dome are building something unusual: a battery that stores electricity using nothing more exotic than carbon dioxide. No lithium. No cobalt. No rare earth minerals. Just CO2, some big domes, and basic physics.