The accelerating adoption of wind and solar energy is driving a growing interest in energy storage technologies. An electric grid dominated by intermittent power sources will need large-scale energy storage. Grid-scale energy storage is expected to increase at least 10 times over the next decade and this will require nearly $300 billion in investments over that time period.
Much of the effort in energy storage has focused on battery storage. But there are other storage technologies that are attracting attention and investment.
Energy Vault is a Swiss-based company specializing in gravity and kinetic energy-based energy storage. Their technology uses a multi-headed crane to store energy generated by renewable sources by stacking heavy blocks made of composite material into a tower, capturing potential energy from the elevation gain of the blocks. To produce electricity, the crane lowers the blocks to the ground, driving generators in the process. The company has just raised $100 million in funding from investors.
Malta, Inc. is an energy storage company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that is developing an electro-thermal energy storage system. Energy generated from renewable (or other) sources drives a heat pump to create thermal energy producing both hot and cold reservoirs. The heat is then stored in molten salt while the cold is stored in a chilled liquid. To generate electricity, the temperature difference between the two reservoirs is used to drive a heat engine. Malta has recently raised $60 million in new funding including significant support from Chevron Energy Ventures.
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Energy Vault Raises $100 Million In Series C Funding
Chevron backs long-duration thermal energy storage developer Malta
Photo, posted October 16, 2019, courtesy of Jonathan Cutrer via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.