CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and
IRVING, Texas, April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vistra (NYSE:
VST) a leading Fortune 275 integrated retail electricity and power
generation company and Malta Inc., a leading developer of
long-duration thermal energy storage solutions, in collaboration
with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), have been awarded a
Department of Energy (DOE) grant. The federally funded project will
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.
"Malta is committed to
accelerating the energy transition," said Ramya Swaminathan, Malta's CEO. "We are proud to collaborate with
Vistra as it works to achieve aggressive net-zero carbon emissions
goals and to expand our relationship with SwRI, one of the premier
research organizations in the country. This collaboration furthers
our mission by validating the Malta system's ability to enable cleaner, more
affordable, and more reliable electricity."
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.
The unique design of the Malta
system would further diversify Vistra's generation portfolio and
create a more stable and resilient grid as intermittent renewable
resources comprise a greater percentage of the generating capacity
in the years ahead.
"Vistra is committed to leading our industry in the effort to
address climate change," said Molly
Sorg, Vistra's chief purpose and sustainability officer.
"Vistra sees immense value in the increased research and
development of new, longer-duration energy storage technologies,
which will play a crucial role in grid reliability, balancing the
intermittency of the power produced by renewable resources. We're
proud to work with Malta and SwRI
to advance innovative solutions for a global energy
transition."
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural
gas is the leading fuel source in the U.S. electricity sector,
representing 39% of all electricity generated in 2020 and
approximately 30% of utility and independent power producer
generation units. Long-duration energy storage technologies, like
the Malta system, promise to
enable cleaner, more efficient operation of gas plants while
supporting the operators' transition to more variable renewable
energy sources.
"Our goal is to design the future of integrated power systems,"
said Natalie Smith, the study's
Principal Investigator and Senior Research Engineer at SwRI.
"Pairing Malta's innovative storage technology with Vistra's
diverse and evolving portfolio is the first step toward a clean,
efficient, and resilient electricity generation landscape in a
sustainable future."
The Malta Pumped Heat Energy System (PHES) is a long-duration
energy storage solution. The system uses turbomachinery and heat
exchangers, well established and proven technologies in power
generation, 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. This system
uses hardware components, technologies, workforce personnel and
skillsets, and a supply chain similar to those used by fossil
plants, allowing for synergy when co-locating the two
technologies.
About Malta Inc.
Malta is developing a Pumped Heat Energy
Storage (PHES) system that employs well-established principles and
technologies in a novel way to store electricity for long durations
and dispatch it to the grid when needed. The Malta system was incubated at X, Alphabet's
Moonshot factory, before becoming an independent company in 2018.
The company is located in Cambridge,
Massachusetts and is backed by a world-class investor
syndicate that includes Bill
Gates-led Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Alfa Laval, a
world leader in heat transfer technologies, and others. For more
information visit www.maltainc.com.
About Vistra
Vistra (NYSE: VST) is a leading, Fortune
275 integrated retail electricity and power generation company
based in Irving, Texas, providing
essential resources for customers, commerce, and communities.
Vistra combines an innovative, customer-centric approach to retail
with safe, reliable, diverse, and efficient power generation. The
company brings its products and services to market in 20 states and
the District of Columbia,
including six of the seven competitive wholesale markets in the
U.S. and markets in Canada and
Japan, as well. Serving nearly 4.3
million residential, commercial, and industrial retail customers
with electricity and natural gas, Vistra is one of the largest
competitive residential electricity providers in the country and
offers over 50 renewable energy plans. The company is also the
largest competitive power generator in the U.S. with a capacity of
approximately 39,000 megawatts powered by a diverse portfolio,
including natural gas, nuclear, solar, and battery energy storage
facilities. In addition, the company is a large purchaser of wind
power. The company is currently constructing a 400-MW/1,600-MWh
battery energy storage system in Moss
Landing, California, the largest of its kind in the world.
Vistra is guided by four core principles: we do business the right
way, we work as a team, we compete to win, and we care about our
stakeholders, including our customers, our communities where we
work and live, our employees, and our investors. Learn more about
our environmental, social, and governance efforts and read the
company's sustainability report
at https://www.vistracorp.com/sustainability/.
About SwRI
Southwest Research Institute is a premier
independent, nonprofit research and development organization using
multidisciplinary services to provide solutions to some of the
world's most challenging scientific and engineering problems.
Headquartered in San Antonio,
Texas, our client-focused, client-funded organization
occupies more than 1,500 acres, providing more than 2.3 million
square feet of laboratories, test facilities, workshops, and
offices for approximately 3,000 employees who perform contract work
for government and industry clients.
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SOURCE Vistra Corp.