EarthEn, a firm based in Arizona, is creating a novel way to store the renewable energy produced by solar and wind turbines, which is always fluctuating.

The fact that renewable resources are sporadic power sources is one of the primary problems in switching to their use. For example, solar and wind power can only generate energy when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.

Since we require electricity constantly, it is essential to figure out how to store it and use it when needed.

In light of this, EarthEn is putting out two options for storing the clean energy produced by natural processes.

The first are the EarthEn Pods, a low-cost, scalable CO2-based energy storage solution with a 30-year shelf life that is described as “flexible and future-proof.” It can store energy for four to over 100 hours.

Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) is carbon dioxide stored in a closed loop at temperatures and pressures “above its critical point where liquid and gas phases are not distinguishable,” according to Power magazine. This is how the thermo-mechanical pods store energy.

The second innovation is EarthEnd, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform designed to assist the resilience of the power grid by leveraging real-time data and enabling connectivity across the company’s hardware solutions.

“Current energy storage solutions are very expensive, hard to scale due to material and geographic constraints, aren’t flexible and have low asset lifetime values, and degrade due to heat and cycling,” stated Karthi Chakaravarty, EarthEn’s COO and co-founder, according to Renewable Energy World. “Current solutions are battery-based and suffer from supply chain constraints, and are unsafe with many of them exploding at customer sites.

“This can only be fixed with a mechanical-based energy storage system,” Chakaravarty continued. “One that’s flexible and future-proof allows utilities to easily grow their energy capacity to meet the growing energy demands.”

The key to facilitating a larger shift towards a safer and more sustainable future for our world is figuring out efficient ways to store energy produced by renewable resources.

Not only do renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and water keep our world cooler than fossil fuels since they don’t release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but they are also more cost-effective options that can save communities billions of dollars annually.

In Orlando, Florida, EarthEn will have a booth at the 2024 DistrubTech International event to showcase its storage solutions.