Solar Dynamics, EPRI & Malta Selected to Develop “Design Basis Document” to Advance Next Generation of Thermal Energy Storage

Streamlining Engineering Best Practices for Large-Scale Nitrate Salt Storage

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solar Dynamics LLC, EPRI, and Malta Inc., announced today the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selected their team to develop a new design basis document intended to accelerate low-carbon energy applications that utilize nitrate salt storage.

The initiative will combine the organizations’ industry-leading knowledge and experience to present technical recommendations for future energy projects utilizing nitrate salt as a heat transport fluid and thermal storage medium.

Through the compilation of cutting-edge engineering practices and lessons learned from past projects, both successful and unsuccessful, this design basis document is intended to codify industry consensus and establish guidelines to assist future developers in planning reliable, efficient, and cost-effective designs.

This new design basis document could advance the next generation of nitrate salt thermal storage systems, which have applications in concentrated solar power, long-duration energy storage, and nuclear energy.

“The team is very excited by this award and the key role that it can play in accelerating molten salt systems,” said Hank Price, Managing Director of Solar Dynamics. “EPRI’s vast subject knowledge and stellar reputation, coupled with Malta’s global expertise in energy storage, ensures that this document will represent the current state of the art in technical and practical expertise in salt systems.”

“Collaborating with Solar Dynamics and Malta to assemble the most effective benchmarks for molten salt energy storage and concentrated solar plants represents an opportunity to build awareness of this technology and help advance an entire class of energy systems,” said Michael Caravaggio, Director of Research and Development, EPRI.

“Malta is excited to be contributing knowledge gained from the development of our long-duration energy storage system to the advancement of the energy industry," said Malta CEO Ramya Swaminathan. “We’re delighted to provide our expertise and promote molten salt storage as a solution to some of the world’s biggest energy challenges.”

The study is being led by molten salt expert Bruce Kelly and is scheduled to take 12 months. It involves direct interviews with plant operators, EPCs, and owners, and it will build upon the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s previous work on the subject.

“By standardizing these design lessons into ‘open source,’ best-practice instructions, we will accelerate our migration to more low-carbon energy systems and ultimately, reduce costs passed along to customers,” said Price.

About Solar Dynamics
Solar Dynamics, based near Denver in Broomfield, Colorado, is a technology company leveraging practical experience, innovative designs, and state-of-the-art engineering tools to develop next-generation products and services for concentrating solar energy. Solar Dynamics’ proprietary technology focus is on molten salt tower technology, molten salt trough technology, and developing advanced heliostat and trough collector designs to make these systems more cost-effective.
www.solardynllc.com

About EPRI
Founded in 1972, EPRI is the world's preeminent independent, non-profit energy research and development organization, with offices around the world. EPRI's trusted experts collaborate with more than 450 companies in 45 countries, driving innovation to ensure the public has clean, safe, reliable, affordable, and equitable access to electricity across the globe. Together, we are shaping the future of energy.
www.epri.com

About Malta Inc.
Based in Cambridge Massachusetts, Malta Inc. has developed a Pumped Heat Energy Storage (PHES) system to provide long-duration, large-scale, cost-effective, and safe energy storage. Malta’s system stores electricity as thermal energy and then re-generates the electricity on demand for up to 200 hours, meeting daily and weekly needs. Malta’s PHES system also generates clean heat for industrial and district heating applications. The company was originally incubated at Google’s Moonshot Factory, X, and is backed by energy industry leaders Alfa Laval, Proman, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Trafigura Group, as well as investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Piva Capital.
www.maltainc.com