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Oh the irony, it burns. Last year’s sharp U-turn in federal energy policy has been a rolling disaster for the energy transition, and yet US innovators in the clean tech space continue to attract investor dollars. The latest example is the long duration energy storage startup Antora Energy, which has just added a $550 million, oversubscribed Series C round of funding to support its “hot blocks” thermal battery system.
The Long Duration Energy Storage Difference
The “long” in long duration refers to energy storage that surpasses the capability of conventional lithium-ion batteries used. The Li-ion batteries used in grid operations typically range from 2-4 hours of duration, though longer periods of up to eight hours are beginning to emerge. That’s enough to smooth out availability gaps for wind and solar power in routine daily cycles, but not enough to meet industrial requirements.
Back in 2018, the US Department of Energy earmarked funds to support new long duration technologies through the DAYS program. Short for Duration Addition to electricitY, the program was administered by the Energy Department’s ARPA-E office for kickstarting transformative innovations in the private sector.
