Malta has graduated from incubation to long-duration grid storage startup, with a $26 million raise led by the billionaire-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Concord New Energy and Alfa Laval joined the round.
The project started life in X, Alphabet’s far-out R&D lab formerly known as Google X. It differs from both electrochemical storage, like lithium-ion batteries, and from typical thermal energy storage, which converts electricity for heating or cooling.
Malta uses a heat pump to store electricity in hot molten salts and cold antifreeze liquid, then uses a heat engine to convert the energy back to electricity for the grid; electricity goes in and electricity goes out.
