Chevron Technology Ventures and Piva Capital Back Malta to Meet the Growing Demand for Long-Duration Energy Storage
Malta Inc., a pioneer in long-duration energy storage, today announced that Chevron Technology Ventures and Piva Capital have joined Proman, Alfa Laval, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Dustin Moskovitz in its oversubscribed Series B financing, increasing the round to over $60 million. The new capital will be used to advance the company’s commercialization strategy.
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – August 25, 2021 – Malta Inc., a pioneer in long-duration energy storage, today announced that Chevron Technology Ventures and Piva Capital have joined Proman, Alfa Laval, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Dustin Moskovitz in its oversubscribed Series B financing, increasing the round to over $60 million. The new capital will be used to advance the company’s commercialization strategy.
“We are thrilled to have Chevron Technology Ventures and Piva Capital investing in Malta. Our mission is to make renewables dispatchable. The Malta system can achieve this by storing days of electricity that is available whenever needed,” said Ramya Swaminathan, CEO at Malta Inc. “We are also excited to have Jeannine on the Board. Her expertise and experience will bring tremendous value at this important stage in Malta’s growth.”
The rapid increase in demand for data centers, and the ‘electrification of everything’, combined with coal-fired power plants and nuclear sites going offline have led to increased global demand for long-duration energy storage at grid scale.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2020 19% of US electricity generation came from coal-fired power plants, but it produced 54% of all the sector emissions. The decommissioning of 50+ coal fired power plants expected in the U.S. by 2030 will need to be matched by renewables and other power generation sources, combined with longer than 12 hours of energy storage to maintain grid stability at scale. This creates a $60 billion opportunity to replace coal fired power plants in the next nine years. The worldwide demand for long-term energy storage is multiples of this figure by 2030, and it is expected to continue to rapidly grow over time to enable 100% renewable penetration, a crucial element to achieve net-zero by 2050.
“Malta has the potential to be a key enabler of grid stability as renewables have become a greater portion of the energy mix,” said Barbara Burger, Vice President, Innovation and President of Technology Ventures at Chevron. “This is the latest investment from our recently launched $300 million Future Energy Fund II, which focuses on industrial decarbonization, emerging mobility, energy decentralization, and the growing circular carbon economy.”
“At Piva Capital, we identify, invest in, and support visionary entrepreneurs and companies that are solving the world’s most critical problems facing industry and energy,” said Ricardo Angel, Managing Partner of Piva Capital. “There are many solutions working to meet the rapidly growing demand for long-duration energy, however, Malta has developed the most reliable solution to sustainably power the world’s growing energy needs. When combined with a top-notch management team and a strong syndicate and partners including Alfa Laval, Proman, and Siemens Energy, Malta is well-positioned to be the leader in the market.”
Malta, which was spun out of X, the Moonshot Factory (formerly Google [X]), has developed a Pumped Heat Energy Storage (PHES) system. This new approach leverages thermodynamic systems to provide long-duration, large-scale, cost-effective, and safe energy storage. It converts electricity from any source, either directly from a generation facility or from the grid, to be stored as thermal energy. The company’s technology is able to satisfy a daily or weekly load cycle by efficiently storing up to 200 hours of energy. In addition to dispatchable renewable energy, Malta’s PHES technology can generate heat for industrial and district heat applications.
New Board Member and Recent Company Momentum
Malta is also announcing that Jeannine Sargent is joining its Board of Directors. Ms. Sargent brings more than 30 years of international operating management, M&A, business strategy, and technology experience across multiple sectors. She has successfully built and scaled venture-backed and global public technology companies and launched several disruptive hardware and software products. She serves on the Boards of Fortive, Synopsys, Proterra, and Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital.
"Long-duration energy storage (LDES) is one of the critical enablers for carbon-free electricity 24/7”, said Jeannine Sargent. “Malta's solution is ready to deploy now and offers a path to accelerate LDES global deployments and contribute to the world's energy transition. I am excited to work with the exceptional team at Malta.”
Malta recently announced a partnership with Siemens Energy to develop heat pump and heat engine components to support a utility-scale 100MW system for 10-200 hours of storage and further scaling to GW power range. In addition, the company plans to develop its first 100MW long-duration storage project in the 2024-2025 timeframe and has a pipeline of projects in North America, Europe, and the Middle East.
About Malta Inc.
Malta is a developer of grid-scale long-duration thermal energy storage solutions. Incubated at X, the Moonshot Factory (formerly Google [X]), Malta is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information visit www.maltainc.com.
About Chevron Technology Ventures
Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV) pursues externally developed technologies and new business solutions that have the potential to enhance the way Chevron produces and delivers affordable, reliable, and ever-cleaner energy. CTV leverages innovative companies and technologies to strengthen Chevron’s core operations and identifies new opportunities to shape the future of energy. For more information, visit www.chevron.com/technology/technology-ventures.
About Piva Capital
Piva Capital is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm investing in visionary entrepreneurs who are solving the world’s critical problems in the industrial and energy spaces via breakthrough technology and innovative business models. For more information, please visit us at Piva.vc, on LinkedIn and Medium.
Contacts:
For Malta Inc.: Matt Burke matt.burke@maltainc.com
For Chevron Technology Ventures: Veronica Flores-Paniagua vflorespaniagua@chevron.com
For Piva Capital: Mary Magnani marym@codepr.com