Vistra & Storage Developer Collaborate On DOE-Funded Study Of "Novel" Energy Storage System

Vistra and Malta Inc., a developer of long-duration thermal energy storage solutions, in collaboration with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), have been awarded a Department of Energy (DOE) grant to study how Malta's energy storage system can improve the environmental and economic performance of a natural gas-powered power plant, help to balance the diverse power generation on electric grids, and improve the reliability and resiliency of the electric system as more intermittent renewables come online.

The U.S. Department of Energy-funded study will focus on integration of the Malta system with a Vistra-owned natural gas-fired plant to optimize its environmental and economic performance. The Malta energy storage system will use electricity generated by the natural gas plant, convert and store that energy as heat, and then convert it back to electricity that can be redistributed on the electric grid as demand necessitates.

Malta's Pumped Heat Energy System (PHES) is described as a long-duration energy storage solution. The system uses turbomachinery and heat exchangers in a "novel" way to store electricity and dispatch it to the grid on demand. The Malta PHES is capable of storing electricity for up to 200 hours, with initial systems focused on current market applications for 10-12 hours of storage.