Rondo Energy announced it has received more than $80 million in funding from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, the European Commission, and the European Investment Bank to install several industrial decarbonization projects across Europe.
Together, the projects will help deliver low-cost energy under long-term contracts to decarbonize food and beverage, clean fuel, and chemical production in Europe.
"Rondo's technology offers industry a unique opportunity to decarbonize with inexpensive renewable electricity," said Mario Fernandez, Head of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. "Rondo's deployment is crucial at a time when European manufacturers are urgently looking for ways to eliminate their dependence on natural gas."
For each project, Rondo Energy will utilize its Rondo Heat Batteries (RHBs), which capture low-cost intermittent renewable electricity from local and remote wind and solar resources and convert it into continuous, high-temperature heat and power for industrial use.
For one of the projects, Covestro, a polymer materials and components manufacturer, will receive an RHB at its production facility in Northern Germany to deliver continuous steam-powered by renewable energy, enhancing its circularity and decarbonization efforts.
"As an innovation company, we are always excited when we can further develop and test promising ideas that can bring us closer to our goals of a circular economy and climate-neutral production," says Dr. Thorsten Dreier, CTO of Covestro. "The heat battery is such an idea: a new technology that allows us to go one step further on our way to a sustainable future."
For another project, Rondo will build a "clean utilities core" to supply companies with green heat at GreenLab, a green and circular industrial park in Denmark. To achieve this, an RHB powered by renewables will generate high-pressure steam to drive a CHP steam turbine generator cycle and create baseload heat and power for multiple companies within the park.
"Industry accounts for approximately 25% of energy-related carbon pollution globally, and 74% of industrial energy use is tied to heat. At GreenLab, we work to reduce industrial energy waste and CO2 emissions by demonstrating new green technologies at scale. That is why Rondo's heat battery is a perfect match for our industrial park," said GreenLab CEO Christopher Sorensen.
Rondo is also planning to build a third RHB project that utilizes on-site and off-site solar energy to help decarbonize European producers in the food and beverage sector; Rondo states further information will be provided on this third project as details are solidified.
