US Startup Brings Diesel-Killing Energy Storage System To Earth

The article highlights a significant advancement in long-duration energy storage by the California startup Noon Energy, which has developed a compact system capable of discharging stored solar power for over 100 hours—far exceeding the typical 2-10 hour capacity of conventional lithium-ion batteries. Noon’s technology centers on a reversible solid oxide fuel cell that uses renewable electricity to split carbon dioxide into oxygen and solid carbon, with the solid carbon serving as the energy storage medium. When electricity is needed, the system recombines oxygen from the air with the stored carbon to generate power. This approach requires less than 1% of the critical materials used in lithium-ion batteries, potentially addressing resource constraints. Noon’s technology draws inspiration from NASA’s MOXIE experiment on Mars, which uses solid oxide electrolysis to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere by decomposing CO2 at high temperatures. The company has been developing its system since its founding in 2018, receiving early funding support from the US Department of Energy’s AR