Why Energy Storage Is the Future of the Grid (with Malta CEO Ramya Swaminathan)

Renewable energy is the future of power, but relying on solar, wind, etc. will require a more reliable and resilient grid. Effective energy storage would make it possible to smooth out discrepancies in supply and demand, and harness renewable power more efficiently.

A range of technologies are being developed and refined with that mission in mind, including large-scale lithium-ion batteries and clean hydrogen storage. Former Alphabet X moonshot spinoff Malta Inc. uses established industrial processes and molten salt to store energy and pump it back into the grid as demand requires. Malta CEO Ramya Swaminathan joins Azeem Azhar to discuss why energy storage is so crucial to fighting climate change, how it could affect the economics of energy, and why the electric grid of the future will be more technologically diverse and complex than today’s.

They also discuss:

How progress in energy storage could hit an exponential inflection point. Working with established companies to revolutionize power distribution. The market mechanisms necessary to optimize the grids of the future.

@azeem
@exponentialview
@maltaenergysto1

Further resources:

“Energy Storage to Steal $277B From Power Grids by 2050” – BloombergNEF, Mar. 2021
“Energy Storage Grand Challenge: Energy Storage Market Report” – U.S. Department of Energy, Dec. 2020
Bloomberg New Energy Finance
ARES
Energy Vault