Rondo Energy

An important and encouraging development for the decarbonisation of industrial heat: Rondo Energy and Covestro have started construction of a 100 MWh heat battery at Covestro’s Brunsbüttel site in Germany. What makes this project particularly interesting is that it addresses two structural challenges at once. First, it provides a way to absorb surplus renewable electricity and store it at scale. Second, it delivers high-temperature steam on demand, which remains one of the hardest parts of industrial energy use to decarbonise. Industrial heat accounts for a very large share of global energy demand, yet policy and innovation debates often focus disproportionately on power generation alone. Technologies like thermal energy storage help bridge that gap by linking variable renewable electricity with continuous industrial heat requirements, reducing reliance on gas-fired boilers and cutting emissions in a cost-effective way. At 100 MWh, this installation is among the largest industrial heat batteries to date and is expected to cover a meaningful share of Covestro’s steam demand at the site. Support from partners such as Breakthrough Energy and the European Investment Bank (EIB) also signals growing confidence that solutions for clean industrial heat are moving beyond pilots and into early commercial deployment.

🚀Energy transition milestone for Europe & chemicals! The first Rondo Heat Battery in Europe – at Covestro in Germany – is now IN CONSTRUCTION! On Monday, Covestro and Rondo Energy held a groundbreaking for a 100 MWh Rondo Heat Battery, at Covestro’s Brunsbüttel site in Germany. Construction already underway. To serve up to 10% of Covestro’s site steam (baseload: 24-hours per day), ~13,000 tons of CO2 avoided annually. Commissioning planned for end 2026. There have been stark reminders in past weeks about how fragile Europe’s business-as-usual energy model is for industry – heavily dependent on imported fuels, exposed to price volatility and supply risk.  Helpfully, Europe has another energy source to tap into cheaper than fossil fuels: off-peak electricity. The Rondo Heat Battery does exactly that.   The technology builds on Europe’s energy transition progress to now benefit industry: - Thanks to already deployed wind & solar, Germany now has very low electricity pricing for a few hours a day – overnight year-round, and also midday in spring/summer. As more wind & solar deploy, these hours expand. - The Rondo Heat Battery pulls in energy during these hours, stores it bricks, and delivers heat to the industrial plant 24-hours per day on demand. - This is a triple win: [1] industrials get a cheaper energy source, [2] electricity networks get more electricity flows during off-peak hours, meaning better utilization of the existing network and cheaper network costs for everyone, [3] renewables can keep deploying at pace because now demand can time-match to supply.   This milestone was marked with speeches from Covestro CTO Dr. Thorsten Dreier, Tobias Goldschmidt the German State Minister of Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature, and Rondo Energy founder John O’Donnell. Fingers crossed this serves as an example to European industrials – how to secure competitive energy today. Covestro press release: https://lnkd.in/easYF8Ff Early coverage: https://lnkd.in/e52Zygcj

Rondo is in Davos. Our CEO Eric Trusiewicz is at the World Economic Forum this week as momentum around thermal storage continues to build. Rondo is on a hot streak. We recently commissioned the world’s largest heat battery in California, commissioned Thailand's first heat battery with SCG, announced a heat battery with The HEINEKEN Company and EDP in Portugal, and broke ground this week on our first European heat battery in Germany with Covestro. These are clear signals that deploying a heat battery for zero-carbon, lower-cost industrial heat is a proven and rapidly-scaling solution. If you’re at Davos and looking for scalable solutions for industrial heat, Eric would love to connect. Reach out to him on LinkedIn for a conversation. #WEF26 #WEF2026 #Davos2026

Today, Covestro and Rondo celebrated the groundbreaking of our new 100 MWh Rondo Heat Battery at Covestro's Brunsbüttel site in Germany! 🙌 This heat battery will deliver high-temperature, emission-free steam using surplus renewable electricity. Key facts: 🔹 Up to 10% of site steam to be powered by renewables 🔹 ~13,000 tons of CO₂ avoided annually 🔹 Commissioning planned for end of 2026 🔹 Supported by Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and the European Investment Bank (EIB). By storing low-cost renewable power as heat, this project shows how German (and global) industrial leaders can cut fossil fuel use, strengthen energy security, and balance the grid, safely and without disrupting operations. We're proud to partner with Covestro to turn proven thermal storage into a scalable solution for industrial decarbonization. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gA7ywgDc

Full steam ahead for Rondo and SIAM CEMENT GROUP in Thailand! Southeast Asia’s first heat battery is now online. Today in Saraburi Province, Thailand, Rondo Energy and SCG Cleanergy celebrated the start of operation of Southeast Asia’s first industrial heat battery — marking three major milestones in Rondo’s journey. This new unit is: 🧱 The first built on our modular platform — this 33 MWh Rondo Heat Battery is now part of a scalable heat battery platform, with sizes ranging from 33 MWh to >1 GWh, all with common design and supply chain. 🌏 Our first deployment in Southeast Asia, built almost entirely in Thailand with extensive local suppliers. ⚡ The only heat battery in the world delivering high-pressure steam for electric power generation, now providing 2.3 MWth of continuous steam to drive a turbine producing 24-hour clean electricity for cement production. This project shows what’s possible when global innovation meets local expertise. Together, Rondo and SCG Cleanergy completed this first-of-its-kind system in just eight months — a model for rapid industrial decarbonization anywhere in the world. SCG Cleanergy laser-focused on rapidly accelerating heat-intensive industry's transition to low-cost, clean energy, advance SCG’s vision of Inclusive Green Growth in Thailand and beyond. This milestone follows Rondo’s recent commissioning of the world’s largest industrial heat battery in California, and the announcement of a 100 MWh heat battery in Portugal with Heineken and EDP. We're proud to be partnering with SCG as Thailand emerges as a global hub for clean-heat manufacturing — and proud of our teams for bringing this project to life. Read the news here: https://lnkd.in/gPNNYJF4

As U.S. climate tech founders and funders face dwindling capital and policy whiplash, many are looking to Europe, with its ambitious yet stable climate policies, as an attractive beachhead market. Examples of the trend abound: I spoke with John O'Donnell of the thermal battery company Rondo Energy and Raffi Garabedian of electrolyzer startup Electric Hydrogen, which are both planning early deployments in the European market. Po Bronson of SOSV spearheaded the launch of a new Ireland-based fund last year, and John Tough told me that when Energize Capital wanted to raise a new fund, they turned to European LPs for backing. Read on to learn more about climate tech’s pivot to Europe. https://lnkd.in/g-ZzhmEf