Energy Dome has inaugurated a manufacturing plant in Piacenza, Italy dedicated to producing key components of its proprietary CO₂ Battery long-duration energy storage technology. The site is intended to become the central manufacturing hub for the large domes used in the company's international projects.
First shipment and production queue
The first dome built entirely at the Piacenza plant has been shipped to India for the Kudgi project, a 20 MW / 160 MWh system developed with utility NTPC. Also in production at the site is the dome for the Columbia Energy Storage Project in Wisconsin, USA, built with Alliant Energy and rated 20 MW / 200 MWh. Subsequent production will serve the Rhode project in Ireland, indicated at 23 MW / 200 MWh.
20 MW / 160 MWh — Kudgi project with NTPC, the first system to use a dome manufactured entirely in Piacenza
Investment and hiring targets
Energy Dome says it invested about €2 million in the Piacenza site over the past year, covering building fit-out, machinery, and electrical and grid infrastructure. Its business plan foresees total investment of roughly €6.5 million over the next two years, with the stated goal of tripling production capacity and expanding local staff from 30 to 80–90 employees by 2028. Those are targets rather than achieved results.
How the technology is positioned
The CO₂ Battery is a closed-loop thermal-mechanical system that stores energy by compressing carbon dioxide and releasing it through a turbine on discharge. Energy Dome says the design is intended to manage renewable intermittency, reduce curtailment during periods of oversupply and support grid stability — duty cycles that sit squarely in the long-duration segment where flow and thermal-mechanical technologies are competing with multi-hour lithium-ion systems.
A European supply chain play
The company presents the plant as an industrial strategy story as much as a project milestone. It says the CO₂ Battery uses European components and manufacturing chains, including steel and turbomachinery. CEO and founder Claudio Spadacini framed the opening as proof that a technology aimed at international markets can be developed in Italy, noting that plants made in Piacenza go to America, Asia and Europe.
For buyers, the significance is manufacturing capacity rather than another pilot: a single hub producing domes for projects across three continents is a precondition for converting a development pipeline into delivered megawatt-hours. The company has not disclosed the plant's nameplate annual output in units or megawatt-hours.
This article was assisted by AI analysis. Please refer to the original source for official information.