FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND ALLIANCE OF LEADING THERMAL BATTERY COMPANIES LAUNCHES TO TRANSFORM INDUSTRY AND THE GRID

Alliance to Advocate for Thermal Batteries as Critical Solutions for Clean Industrial Manufacturing and a Resilient, Lower-Cost Grid

CALIFORNIA AND MASSACHUSETTS – January 8, 2025 – A coalition of leading energy technology companies has announced the formation of the Thermal Battery Alliance, the first industry group of its kind. The member companies include Antora Energy, Electrified Thermal Solutions, RedoxBlox, and Rondo Energy, which currently focus on the industrial heat sector, and Fourth Power, which currently focuses on grid storage. This strategic collaboration is set to drive transformative change in the industrial and power sectors and establish thermal batteries at the forefront of the clean manufacturing and electrification revolutions. 

Thermal batteries are a breakthrough American technology that increases the competitiveness of the U.S. industrial manufacturing base and bolsters the country’s grid reliability while lowering energy costs for companies and consumers. Thermal batteries charge with low cost, off-peak intermittent power and store that energy as heat. This heat can be delivered around-the-clock to drive industrial operations, or converted on-demand into electricity to power factories and meet grid needs. 

Critically, this new battery asset class relies on abundant materials without many of the supply chain hurdles faced by other types of batteries. Thermal batteries also avoid key safety challenges associated with other battery storage technologies, such as fire risk. 

The Thermal Battery Alliance will:

• Help educate policymakers, manufacturers, and the public about the benefits of thermal batteries, including economic and grid benefits; 

• Advocate for federal and state policies that help grow the industry, including key federal tax incentives that support U.S. manufacturing and smart reform of electricity markets to value highly flexible, long-duration energy storage technologies; and 

• Seek to form strategic coalitions to promote the adoption of thermal batteries. 

The new industry coalition is committed to showcasing the vital role that thermal batteries play in a thriving and secure energy and industrial manufacturing base. The Thermal Battery Alliance plans a series of reports, including an analysis of thermal batteries’ grid benefits and a study of job creation impacts. These publications will underscore the ways thermal batteries lower energy costs for U.S. manufacturers and ratepayers while enabling industrial products made-in-America to be more globally competitive.

"The formation of the Thermal Battery Alliance marks a pivotal moment in the energy sector. Thermal battery technologies unlock cost-effective industrial electrification; lower electricity prices; and economic growth. Together, our member companies are committed to ensuring that thermal batteries play a major role in rapid industrial and power sector transformation," said Katherine Hamilton, Interim Executive Director of the Thermal Battery Alliance.

The market potential for thermal batteries in the industrial heat and grid sectors is massive. Industrial heat accounts for 20% of global energy demand and 9% of U.S. emissions. Existing thermal battery technologies store energy at temperatures high enough to address 99% of U.S. industrial heat demand using clean, low-cost, surplus power. Additionally, by 2040, experts expect up to $3 trillion will be invested in long-term grid storage systems that will be able to store and provide as much as 2.5 terawatts (TW) of power worldwide.

“Thermal batteries are uniquely positioned to help solve the two biggest challenges in the transition to clean industry: making electrified heat definitively cheaper than heat from existing energy sources and growing the supply of renewable electricity to meet demand,” said Jeffrey Rissman, Senior Director at Energy Innovation Policy & Technology and author of Zero-Carbon Industry. “It’s exciting to see innovative companies in the thermal battery industry joining forces to raise awareness of this breakthrough technology and speed its adoption. The result will be a more secure and more competitive energy system and manufacturing base.”

About Antora Energy
Antora builds and deploys thermal batteries to power always-on industrial operations with low-cost renewable energy. Factory-built in the United States, Antora’s modular thermal batteries deliver reliable heat and power, enabling industrial facilities of any size to decarbonize predictably and profitably. Antora is electrifying global industry while supporting U.S. manufacturing jobs, curbing local air pollution, and accelerating the path to a reliable zero-emission grid. To learn more, visit www.antora.com and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Electrified Thermal Solutions

Electrified Thermal Solutions (Electrified Thermal) is pioneering the future of zero-carbon industrial heat. Developed at MIT, the electrically and thermally conductive bricks at the heart of Electrified Thermal’s Joule Hive™ thermal battery (JHTB) represent a step change improvement in electric heating element technology in terms of high temperature performance and durability. The company’s JHTB generates, stores, and delivers unprecedented near-flame temperature heat (up to 1,800°C / 3,275°F), offering the most cost-effective, clean alternative to fossil fuels.

With industrial heat processes responsible for over 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, Electrified Thermal is creating the commercially viable decarbonization pathway for industries such as power, cement, mining, steel and metals, chemicals, and food processing. The Boston-based company is on track to commercialize the JHTB by 2026, accelerating the transition to decarbonized industrial processes and helping industries meet their net-zero goals.For more information, please visit www.electrifiedthermalsolutions.com.

About Fourth Power

Fourth Power makes reliable, cost-effective renewable energy an available resource for utilities and power generators, 24/7. By combining thermal energy storage with thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells, Fourth Power turns the light emitted from heated carbon blocks into electricity that is dispatchable to the grid in seconds. The company’s extremely high-temperature system (2400°C) ensures maximum efficiency with readily available materials, offering the lowest-cost option for grid decarbonization. Fourth Power has engineered a highly flexible battery that is built to customer specifications and grows with the grid as renewable energy deployment expands. For more information on how Fourth Power has put the sun in a box to make clean, reliable energy more accessible, visit gofourth.com.  

About RedoxBlox

RedoxBlox has pioneered a new class of energy storage - Thermochemical energy storage (TCES). RedoxBlox TCES modules store both heat and chemical energy through a metal oxide redox reaction, enabling energy densities on par with Li-Ion, but at a fraction of the cost. RedoxBlox TCES units have undergone several years of daily cycling with no degradation, and with temperatures delivered above 1100°C and up to 1500°C for the entire discharge, making the solution perfectly suited to replace natural gas in industrial applications. Learn more at redoxblox.com  

About Rondo Energy

Rondo is purpose-built for industrial facilities: Its Heat Batteries are constructed from proven, durable materials and are designed for seamless integration with existing industrial equipment and processes. Whether deployed as a drop-in replacement for retiring fossil-fueled heating equipment or as a resilient complement to existing systems, Rondo requires no disruptive changes to customers' operations.

Rondo currently operates the world's highest temperature, highest efficiency commercial energy storage system, at Calgren Renewable Fuels in Pixley, California. Working with its partner Siam Cement Group (SCG), Rondo is expanding the production capacity of its storage media from its current 2 GWh/yr to an industry-leading 90 GWh per year.  Rondo Energy is headquartered in Alameda, California. Learn more at rondo.com.

Contact Us:

Katherine Hamilton, Interim Executive Director

Katherine is serving as Interim Executive Director of the Thermal Battery Alliance. She has decades of experience in energy storage, including during her ten year tenure at Virginia Power (now Dominion) where she designed power grids and assisted utility customers in accessing thermal energy storage tariffs. In the intervening years, Katherine led policy for the Energy Storage Association, worked to pass Long Duration Energy Storage legislation in Congress, and served as a technology expert on the Governor of Virginia's energy storage task force to identify ways in which the Commonwealth could meet its storage targets. As an international policy expert, Katherine was an original and longtime host of The Energy Gang podcast. Katherine has led several councils of the World Economic Forum as a global policy and technology thought leader and is currently a Senior Executive in Clean Power and Electrification. She served as Vice Chair of the board of Greentown Labs, with start-up hubs in Somerville, MA and Houston, TX and currently serves as a Non-Executive Director at Smarter Grid Solutions and an Independent Director at Peak Power. Katherine studied electrical engineering at Northern Virginia Community College and holds degrees from Cornell University and the Sorbonne. Katherine was previously profiled and listed on the #Solar100 board by kWh Analytics and received a Cleanie Award as Entrepreneur of the Year.

Email Katherine at: katherine@38northsolutions.com

Follow Katherine on Bluesky: @cleangridview.bsky.social  

Connect with Katherine on LinkedIn