EarthEn wins DOE backing for supercritical CO2 energy storage

EarthEn secured US Department of Energy funding and national-lab support to commercialise its supercritical CO2-based energy storage technology, including a $750,000 award for sCO2 heat-exchangers. The development signals advancing long-duration storage options relevant to India's grid-balancing and renewable-integration challenges.

Phoenix-based startup EarthEn secured funding from the US Department of Energy's Office of Electricity, with support from a US national lab, under a two-year package to commercialise its supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) energy storage. The hybrid thermo-mechanical technology serves both extended and shorter-duration storage. CEO Manas Pathak entered Oak Ridge National Laboratory's selective Innovation Crossroads programme, which admits seven entrepreneurs annually. Separately, EarthEn won $750,000 under the DOE's 2023 Technology Commercialization Fund for an sCO2 heat-exchanger project developed with ORNL.

Grid operators and renewable developers facing intermittency are the relevant beneficiaries, as sCO2 storage offers efficiency and versatility across storage durations. The Innovation Crossroads programme, established by ORNL with the DOE and Tennessee Valley Authority, provides funding and collaborative R&D access at ORNL's Knoxville campus. The Technology Commercialization Fund partnership advances the heat-exchanger components central to the system, positioning EarthEn to scale a storage approach suited to firming variable wind and solar generation.

Energy-storage stakeholders and Indian grid planners managing rising renewable penetration should monitor EarthEn's commercialisation milestones over the two-year DOE support period and progress on the $750,000 sCO2 heat-exchanger project developed with ORNL. Companies evaluating long-duration storage technologies can track how the hybrid thermo-mechanical approach performs against alternatives for both short- and extended-duration needs as the technology moves toward market readiness, and how the Innovation Crossroads collaboration at ORNL's Knoxville campus accelerates its path from pilot to deployment.

Key figure — Technology Commercialization Fund award: $750,000 for sCO2 heat-exchangers