A Kansas ethanol producer is preparing to use a nearly 6 gigawatt-hour thermal battery system to supply its plant with energy around the clock. Antora Energy announced the 5.8 GWh project on October 1 for Pratt Energy’s biorefinery in Pratt.

The planned installation stores energy for multiple days and is intended to provide affordable, reliable energy for the facility. Antora describes it as one of the world’s largest battery storage systems once completed.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners led the project’s third-party equity financing through its credit platform, with Grok Ventures and University Pension Plan Ontario also participating.

The announcement connects the investment to industrial energy demand and economic development in the Kansas community.

The system uses insulated blocks of solid carbon to hold energy as heat. Electricity charges the thermal batteries, and the stored heat can subsequently serve industrial processes. Antora’s technology can also deliver power.

At Pratt Energy, the commercial arrangement is a long-term heat offtake agreement. Energy deliveries are scheduled to start in 2027, giving the biorefinery access to an around-the-clock supply.

The Kansas project follows Antora’s commissioning of a 5 GWh system in Big Stone City, South Dakota. That earlier installation has a 50 MW rating; the Pratt announcement does not specify an equivalent power rating.

Antora manufactures its batteries in San Jose, California. An expansion earlier in 2026 added two facilities and doubled the site’s manufacturing capacity.

The Pratt deployment is the company’s second major thermal battery project announced this year.

For Pratt Energy, the installation supports a broader ambition to produce zero-carbon-intensity ethanol.

Source link