Proman leads Series B funding round for Malta’s Long Duration Energy Storage System

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – February 24, 2021 – Malta Inc., a pioneer in long-duration energy storage, today announced it has raised $50M in a Series B round of funding. The financing was led by integrated energy group Proman with participation from new investor Dustin Moskovitz and existing investors Alfa Laval and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

“Our goal continues to be to create a scalable storage solution that will accelerate the expansion of renewable energy while improving grid stability and resilience. We are gratified by our investors’ recognition of our achievements and their confidence in our ability to execute on this exciting new phase,” said Ramya Swaminathan, CEO of Malta Inc.

David Cassidy, Chief Executive of Proman, Malta’s lead investor, says, “There is an exponential global need for long-duration, low-cost energy storage solutions, and we are excited to work with the Malta team and our new partners to progress Malta’s highly scalable and technically robust solution.  Alongside our investment, Proman will bring complementary design, engineering and construction expertise to the Malta PHES technology as we begin work with Malta on a commercial scale plant.”

The Malta Pumped Heat Energy Storage (PHES) system leverages well-understood thermodynamic systems in a novel energy storage application. The PHES system converts electricity from any source, either directly from a generation facility or from the grid, to be stored as thermal energy. The Malta system is able to satisfy a daily or weekly load cycle by efficiently storing up to 200 hours of energy storage, though early systems will focus on current market applications in need of 10- to 12-hour durations. In addition to dispatchable renewable energy, Malta’s PHES technology generates heat for industrial and district heat applications.

Overview of key features of the Malta Process, courtesy of Malta Inc

Investors explain the need for long-duration energy storage and Malta’s system:

“The promise of fully dispatchable renewables is dependent on long-duration energy storage solutions,” said Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “We are excited about the progress the team at Malta has made and the impact this system will soon have on reducing carbon emissions globally.”

“We believe that thermal storage will play an important role in the energy transition,” says Susanne Pahlén Åklundh, President of Alfa Laval’s Energy Division. “After working with the Malta team for the past two years on novel heat exchanger design and development, we remain excited about this solution and the potential impact it can have on climate change.”

“Malta’s innovative application of well-established technologies and materials could accelerate the roll out of long duration storage to support the transition to fully dispatchable renewable energy,” said Dustin Moskovitz.

Find out more on Malta’s website