For many industries, lithium batteries are not enough; They are becoming increasingly expensive, take up too much space, and are sometimes overkill for many industrial use cases. Thermal batteries, on the other hand, can store energy in the form of heat for long periods of time, are generally cheaper to invest in and distribute, and are more suitable for a variety of industrial applications.

Now Denmark's Hyme EnergyThe company, which produces thermal batteries using molten salt, has signed a deal that could help it scale its technology to industrial levels: Arla, a Danish-Swedish multinational cooperative and the world's fifth-largest dairy company, is partnering with Hyme. Developing a large-scale industrial thermal storage system.

The project will initially be built for Arla's milk powder plant in Holstebro, Denmark. Hyme and Arla will also jointly seek EU funding for the project.

Hyme uses a molten salt system created for energy-intensive industries such as food and beverage, chemicals and metal manufacturing. The proposed system will have a capacity of 200 MWh and will convert electricity from renewable sources into heat, which will then be stored in molten salt tanks above 500° Celsius. In Arla's milk powder production, the aim is to obtain energy entirely from fossil fuels and reduce CO2 emissions by 100%.

Ask Emil Løvschall-Jensen, co-founder and CEO of Hyme, sees the company's solutions as ideal for Arla's processes due to the need for steam. He added that Hyme is focused entirely on industry segments where there is a large demand for steam, especially continuous steam in the temperature range of 200° C to 500° C.

“There is a lot of new technology in this field. One is molten salts, the other is graphite, ceramics, etc. solid storage media such as. "The main differences arise when it comes to long-term discharge of steam," he said.

The question is, how quickly can the technology scale across Europe to meet industrial demand? Løvschall-Jensen thinks this is possible.

“There are no limitations on the storage media produced (…), so it can scale at any speed. "We are pursuing a strategy where we aim not to be a manufacturer of components, but instead to work with blue chip suppliers and EPC partners to make sure we can scale fast enough," he said.

Is venture capital investing enough in this area?: “Yes and no,” he said. “It's much easier to raise money for software. Some are aware that they need to catch up with technologies earlier to be the right growth partner in the future. "We see hints of this."

Brightfolk led Hyme's first fundraising round of €10.4 million ($10.8 million). Additionally, €8.4 million ($8.7 million) was raised from convertible bonds, and the startup raised a total of €25 million ($26 million) with grants. The startup now plans to raise a Series A of €20 million to €30 million ($20.8 million to $31.2 million).

Accordingly Pitch BookThermal battery startups like Hyme raised over $170 million in venture funding in 2023 and are on track to more than double that figure in 2024.

Hyme's competitors include: Electric Thermal SolutionsA technology that gives bricks the ability to convert electricity into heat and store it for hours. Thermal battery of the Fourth Estate It stores energy in the form of blocks of graphite held at approximately 2,400° C (4,350° F). The blocks are charged with molten tin heated using electricity from solar panels or wind turbines. And MGA Thermals wants to help utilities transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources with shoebox-sized thermal energy storage blocks.