Thermal energy storage company Rondo Energy has completed a US$60 million fundraising round from investors including Rio Tinto, Microsoft, Aramco and Energy Impact Partners.

Startup Kyoto Group has begun operational testing of a 4MW molten salt-based power-to-heat system in Denmark.

Kraftblock, a thermal energy storage startup based in Germany, and Australia’s MGA Thermal have secured funding to accelerate their technologies’ scale-up and commercialisation.

US DOE Loan Programs Office has invited Nostromo into due diligence and terms sheet negotiations for a loan worth up to US$176 million.

More news in brief from around the world in energy storage, featuring vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs), bankruptcy for a thermal storage startup and a new integrated lithium tech.

The government of Spain is launching €280 million (US$310 million) in grants for standalone energy storage projects, thermal energy storage and reversible pumped hydro to go online in 2026.

More than 5% of Spain’s renewable energy generation could face economic curtailment between 2025 and 2030, but long-duration energy storage (LDES) could reduce or eliminate that need.

Rondo Energy, which counts Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures among its investors, intends to scale up annual production capacity of its thermal storage tech to 90GWh.

A roundup of news in brief from around the world in energy storage, with Honeywell, Wärtsilä and Iberdrola.

Julia Souder, CEO of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council, explores energy storage as the cornerstone of power grids of the future.