California-based Rondo Energy and Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) are going to operate the world’s largest battery factory in Thailand. The production capacity of Rondo Heat Battery storage at SCG’s facility is going to be ramped up from 2.4 GWh to 90 GWh per year, larger than any current battery manufacturing facility worldwide.
The 90 GWh of planned capacity will result in 12 million tons of CO2 savings annually. This is equivalent to removing over 4 million gas-powered vehicles from the road each year.
Rondo’s technology opens a new pathway for SCG to achieve its deep decarbonization goals and simultaneously reduce its operating costs.
Rondo’s breakthrough Heat Battery captures intermittent electricity from solar and wind and stores the energy from that electricity as high-temperature heat in refractory brick without the use of combustibles, critical minerals, toxins, or liquids. The refractory bricks are made of fireproof materials that can withstand high temperatures. The stored heat is delivered on demand at temperatures up to 1500°C.
Rondo’s technology, wind and solar, can deliver continuous zero-carbon industrial heat at a lower cost than fossil fuels, a critical need for industries worldwide.
The first Rondo Heat Battery is now commercially operating at a California ethanol plant, serving an industrial customer with the world’s highest temperature, highest efficiency energy storage of any kind. SCG, through its subsidiary SRIC, produces refractory brick at world-class quality and scale. Rondo and SCG are together addressing the next step toward large-scale industrial decarbonization.
The industrial sector uses more energy than any other part of the world economy, and most industrial energy is used as heat. Industrial heat consumes a quarter of total world energy and today releases a quarter of the world’s CO2. Industrial heat has been seen as “difficult to decarbonize” due to cost, continuity, and temperature challenges.
Rondo Heat Batteries transform intermittent wind and solar power into the continuous high-temperature and low-cost heat that the industry needs. This planned production will support installations powering a wide range of industries, from mining and metals to fuels to food production, at facilities worldwide.
