Energy Storage

‘We are uniting’: Long-duration energy storage competitors join forces at COP26

Normally competitors in the quest to deploy long-duration energy storage, and replace fossil fuels with dispatchable clean energy at all hours of the day, 24 companies joined forces at the COP26 United Nations climate summit to form the Long Duration Energy Storage Council.
‘We are uniting’: Long-duration energy storage competitors join forces at COP26
Normally competitors in the quest to deploy long-duration energy storage, and replace fossil fuels with dispatchable clean energy at all hours of the day, 24 companies joined forces at the COP26 United Nations climate summit to form the Long Duration Energy Storage Council. (Courtesy: LDESC)

Normally competitors in the quest to deploy long-duration energy storage, and replace fossil fuels with dispatchable clean energy at all hours of the day, 24 companies joined forces at the COP26 United Nations climate summit to form the Long Duration Energy Storage Council.

ESS, Form Energy, and Ambri are among the founding members of the council, which aims to provide guidance to governments and grid operators on the path to deploying 85-140 TWh of long-duration energy storage globally by 2040.

“ESS commends the formation of the LDES Council and is proud to be a founding member of an organization committed to global decarbonization,” sad ESS CEO Eric Dresselhuys, who is attending COP26 in Glasgow this week. “As an industry, we are uniting to provide our expertise and experience to accelerate energy sector transformation with long-duration energy storage as a key enabler of clean, reliable power grids.”

ESS CEO Eric Dresselhuys joined Renewable Energy World for a conversation about the company's journey to becoming the first U.S. long-duration energy storage company to list on the New York Stock Exchange, the promise of flow battery technology, and the impact of proposed tax credits for energy storage currently being considered by the U.S. Congress.

Mechanical, electrochemical, chemical, and thermal long-duration energy storage technologies are all represented by the LDESC, as well as equipment manufacturers, low-carbon energy system integrators, industrial customers, and capital providers.

The LDESC will release a strategic report on long-duration energy storage technologies on Nov. 23. The report will detail how $1.5-3 trillion investment in long-duration energy storage can eliminate 1.5-2.3 Gt of CO2 produced annually from fossil fuels.

Long-duration energy storage -- five hours or more -- is a crucial piece in the world's transition away from polluting fossil fuels toward renewable energy resources.

Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures is backing long-duration storage companies ESS, Form Energy, and Ambri, among others, while gravity-based energy storage firm Energy Vault is expected to list on the NYSE after a SPAC merger of its own, valuing the company at $1.1 billion.