Ramya Swaminathan's guest appearances

Ramya Swaminathan

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

Leaders in Cleantech

My Climate Journey

Watt It Takes

Jigar Shah

Dan Yates

Donnel Baird

Val Miftakhov

Tim Latimer

Scott Clavenna

Emily Reichert

Nancy Pfund

Saul Griffith

Sila Nanotechnologies

Rob Hanson

Robyn Beavers

Kathy Hannun

Gene Berdichevsky

Matt Rogers

OwlTail

There's a race going on to build the next generation of energy storage technologies using gravity, chemicals, or heat to store clean electricity for long periods of time.And that's where our guest, Ramya Swaminathan, comes in.Ramya is the CEO of a company called Malta. Malta is building an electro-chemical battery that converts renewable electricity into heat. It's like a giant version of the heat pump in your air conditioner, using commercially-available, off-the-shelf parts.Malta's heat-pump battery could provide energy to the grid for half a day -- and potentially, multiple days.In 2018, Malta was spun out of X, the moonshot factory established by Google's parent company. Since then, Malta has raised more than $76 million to commercialize its storage system. Investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a firm started by Bill Gates; Dustin Moskowitz, a Facebook founder; and Alfa Laval, a Swedish company that makes heating and cooling equipment for heavy industry.Malta aims to have power-plant sized facilities serving the grid by 2024. Emily Kirsch talked with Ramya about how her background in investment banking and hydropower development prepared her for scaling an energy storage business.Watt It Takes isbrought to you by Google. Google is pioneering the electricity systems of the future with its effort to source 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030 -- so that everyone can have round-the-clock, carbon-free energy everywhere they operate, in every hour of the day. Learn more.Watt It Takes is also brought to you by Nextracker. Nextracker is advancing the connected power plant of the future across five continents.Powerhouse partners with leading corporations to help them lead the next century of clean technology innovation. Powerhouse Ventures backs founding teams building innovative software to rapidly transform our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more about Powerhouse at powerhouse.fund.To hear more stories of founders building our carbon-free future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.

There's a race going on to build the next generation of energy storage technologies using gravity, chemicals, or heat to store clean electricity for long periods of time.And that's where our guest, Ramya Swaminathan, comes in.Ramya is the CEO of a company called <a href="https://www.maltainc.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Malta</a>. Malta is building an electro-chemical battery that converts renewable electricity into heat. It's like a giant version of the heat pump in your air conditioner, using commercially-available, off-the-shelf parts.Malta's heat-pump battery could provide energy to the grid for half a day -- and potentially, multiple days.In 2018, Malta was spun out of X, the moonshot factory established by Google's parent company. Since then, Malta has raised more than $76 million to commercialize its storage system. Investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a firm started by Bill Gates; Dustin Moskowitz, a Facebook founder; and Alfa Laval, a Swedish company that makes heating and cooling equipment for heavy industry.Malta aims to have power-plant sized facilities serving the grid by 2024. Emily Kirsch talked with Ramya about how her background in investment banking and hydropower development prepared her for scaling an energy storage business.Watt It Takes isbrought to you by Google. Google is pioneering the electricity systems of the future with its effort to source 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030 -- so that everyone can have round-the-clock, carbon-free energy everywhere they operate, in every hour of the day. <a href="http://goo.gle/carbonfree" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Learn more.</a>Watt It Takes is also brought to you by <a href="http://nextracker.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nextracker</a>. Nextracker is advancing the connected power plant of the future across five continents.Powerhouse partners with leading corporations to help them lead the next century of clean technology innovation. Powerhouse Ventures backs founding teams building innovative software to rapidly transform our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more about Powerhouse at <a href="https://www.powerhouse.fund/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">powerhouse.fund</a>.To hear more stories of founders building our carbon-free future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.

Malta CEO Ramya Swaminathan

Today’s guest is Ramya Swaminathan, CEO of Malta, Inc. Malta’s electro-thermal energy storage system is a new grid-scale technology that collects and stores energy for long durations. Energy can be stored from any power generation source in any location – be it wind, solar, or fossil fuels – enabling reliable and predictable operation of the grid. Ramya joined Malta from Rye Development, where she was CEO, co-founder, and Member of the Board of FFP New Hydro. Under her leadership, Rye Development grew to be the leading developer of new hydropower projects in the United States and its portfolio of development projects, held at its holdco affiliate, FFP New Hydro, advanced from concept through FERC licensing and late stage development financing. She was also responsible for the expansion of Rye’s platform into energy storage, with the addition of two sizable pumped hydro storage development projects in the Pacific Northwest. At Rye Development, Ms. Swaminathan led a multi-disciplinary team, with specialists in engineering and construction, regulatory and environmental aspects, and power marketing.  She also led the company through several financing rounds, both at the platform and the project levels.  Prior to her work in the hydropower space, Ms. Swaminathan was a public finance banker, most recently as a Director at UBS, where she focused on public power clients and senior managed more than $10 billion in financings. Ms. Swaminathan holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA in Anthropology from Amherst College. In today’s episode, we cover:  Ramya’s background and what led her to Malta Overview of the grid, storage, long duration storage, and why it matters A look at hydro, lithium ion, and other companies and approaches gunning for long duration storage market Malta’s approach, long vision, progress to date, and what’s coming next How it works, which aspects are proven and which are the riskiest assumptions Business models for storage Regulatory risks Importance of transmission and distribution Unique opportunities in developing countries The right capital sources for this type of tough tech innovation Role of strategics as investors, partners, acquirers, etc. Role of insurance to decrease tough tech risk to make these projects more viable to finance One change that would bring highest impact for accelerating Malta’s progress Ramya’s advice to others looking to find their lane in the climate fight  Links to topics discussed in this episode:  Malta, Inc.: https://www.maltainc.com/ Long duration energy storage: https://energy.stanford.edu/storagex-initiative/projects/grand-challenges-energy-storage/long-duration-energy-storage Hydropower: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/hydropower/ Breakthrough Energy Ventures: http://www.b-t.energy/ventures/ Cobalt mining: https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/cobalt-mining-human-rights Distribution grid: https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Distribution_grid Electric power transmission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission Electrothermal storage: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/alphabet-spins-off-malta-a-long-duration-electro-thermal-storage-startup-wi#gs.1wa84f  You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests. Enjoy the show!

Today’s guest is Ramya Swaminathan, CEO of Malta, Inc. Malta’s electro-thermal energy storage system is a new grid-scale technology that collects and stores energy for long durations. Energy can be stored from any power generation source in any location – be it wind, solar, or fossil fuels – enabling reliable and predictable operation of the grid. Ramya joined Malta from Rye Development, where she was CEO, co-founder, and Member of the Board of FFP New Hydro. Under her leadership, Rye Development grew to be the leading developer of new hydropower projects in the United States and its portfolio of development projects, held at its holdco affiliate, FFP New Hydro, advanced from concept through FERC licensing and late stage development financing. She was also responsible for the expansion of Rye’s platform into energy storage, with the addition of two sizable pumped hydro storage development projects in the Pacific Northwest. At Rye Development, Ms. Swaminathan led a multi-disciplinary team, with specialists in engineering and construction, regulatory and environmental aspects, and power marketing.  She also led the company through several financing rounds, both at the platform and the project levels.  Prior to her work in the hydropower space, Ms. Swaminathan was a public finance banker, most recently as a Director at UBS, where she focused on public power clients and senior managed more than $10 billion in financings. Ms. Swaminathan holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA in Anthropology from Amherst College. In today’s episode, we cover: <ul> <li>Ramya’s background and what led her to Malta</li> <li>Overview of the grid, storage, long duration storage, and why it matters</li> <li>A look at hydro, lithium ion, and other companies and approaches gunning for long duration storage market</li> <li>Malta’s approach, long vision, progress to date, and what’s coming next</li> <li>How it works, which aspects are proven and which are the riskiest assumptions</li> <li>Business models for storage</li> <li>Regulatory risks</li> <li>Importance of transmission and distribution</li> <li>Unique opportunities in developing countries</li> <li>The right capital sources for this type of tough tech innovation</li> <li>Role of strategics as investors, partners, acquirers, etc.</li> <li>Role of insurance to decrease tough tech risk to make these projects more viable to finance</li> <li>One change that would bring highest impact for accelerating Malta’s progress</li> <li>Ramya’s advice to others looking to find their lane in the climate fight</li> </ul> Links to topics discussed in this episode: <ul> <li>Malta, Inc.: <a href="https://www.maltainc.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.maltainc.com/</a></li> <li>Long duration energy storage: <a href="https://energy.stanford.edu/storagex-initiative/projects/grand-challenges-energy-storage/long-duration-energy-storage" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://energy.stanford.edu/storagex-initiative/projects/grand-challenges-energy-storage/long-duration-energy-storage</a></li> <li>Hydropower: <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/hydropower/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/hydropower/</a></li> <li>Breakthrough Energy Ventures:<a href="http://www.b-t.energy/ventures/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> http://www.b-t.energy/ventures/</a></li> <li>Cobalt mining: <a href="https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/cobalt-mining-human-rights" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/cobalt-mining-human-rights</a></li> <li>Distribution grid: <a href="https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Distribution_grid" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Distribution_grid</a></li> <li>Electric power transmission: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission</a></li> <li>Electrothermal storage: <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/alphabet-spins-off-malta-a-long-duration-electro-thermal-storage-startup-wi#gs.1wa84f" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/alphabet-spins-off-malta-a-long-duration-electro-thermal-storage-startup-wi#gs.1wa84f</a></li> </ul> You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests. Enjoy the show!

Ep 48: Ramya Swaminathan, CEO of Malta, Inc.

It was very flattering when a Google Moonshot company, invested in by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos funded Breakthrough Energy Ventures, called to ask for help to scale their team. I took the opportunity whilst in Boston, MA, meeting the team, to record this episode with CEO Ramya Swaminathan, and to hear what’s it like to have such auspicious origins and investors, and what pressure that brings.About our guestRamya Swaminathan joined Malta from Rye Development, where she was CEO, co-founder and Member of the Board of FFP New Hydro. Under her leadership, Rye Development grew to be the leading developer of new hydropower projects in the United States and its portfolio of development projects, held at its holdco affiliate, FFP New Hydro, advanced from concept through FERC licensing and late stage development financing. She was also responsible for the expansion of Rye’s platform into energy storage, with the addition of two sizable pumped hydro storage development projects in the Pacific Northwest. At Rye Development, Ms. Swaminathan led a multi-disciplinary team, with specialists in engineering and construction, regulatory and environmental aspects, and power marketing.  She also led the company through several financing rounds, both at the platform and the project levels.Prior to her work in the hydropower space, Ms. Swaminathan was a public finance banker, most recently as a Director at UBS, where she focused on public power clients and senior managed more than $10 billion in financings. Ms. Swaminathan holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA in Anthropology from Amherst College.The Malta concept is built upon well-established principles in thermodynamics for a system that stores energy as heat (in molten salt) and as cold (in a chilled liquid). The project was incubated at X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory, which applies audacious thinking and radical new technologies to solve the world’s most challenging problems. Based on the research they’d seen, X identified the Malta system as a product that had the potential to unlock a wealth of inexpensive clean energy to address global energy demands.X’s team designed individual system components and evaluated whether the concept could work in the real world at a competitive price-point. The next two years were spent incubating the concept with a focus on derisking the most challenging concepts first. When it became clear that the technology had potential to be commercially viable at grid scale, Malta was formed outside of Alphabet as its own independent company.Ramya Swaminathan on Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramya-swaminathan-6a52a8b/Malta Inc website  https://www.maltainc.com/News stories discussed this week3 things to know about Malta, the Google-incubated and Bill Gates-backed startup https://www.greenbiz.com/article/3-things-know-about-malta-google-incubated-and-bill-gates-backed-startupFollow us online, write a review (please) or subscribeI’m very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.Twitter twitter.com/weekincleantechFacebook www.facebook.com/thisweekincleantech/Instagram www.instagram.com/davidhunt2013/

It was very flattering when a Google Moonshot company, invested in by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos funded Breakthrough Energy Ventures, called to ask for help to scale their team. I took the opportunity whilst in Boston, MA, meeting the team, to record this episode with CEO Ramya Swaminathan, and to hear what’s it like to have such auspicious origins and investors, and what pressure that brings.About our guestRamya Swaminathan joined Malta from Rye Development, where she was CEO, co-founder and Member of the Board of FFP New Hydro. Under her leadership, Rye Development grew to be the leading developer of new hydropower projects in the United States and its portfolio of development projects, held at its holdco affiliate, FFP New Hydro, advanced from concept through FERC licensing and late stage development financing. She was also responsible for the expansion of Rye’s platform into energy storage, with the addition of two sizable pumped hydro storage development projects in the Pacific Northwest. At Rye Development, Ms. Swaminathan led a multi-disciplinary team, with specialists in engineering and construction, regulatory and environmental aspects, and power marketing. She also led the company through several financing rounds, both at the platform and the project levels.Prior to her work in the hydropower space, Ms. Swaminathan was a public finance banker, most recently as a Director at UBS, where she focused on public power clients and senior managed more than $10 billion in financings. Ms. Swaminathan holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA in Anthropology from Amherst College.The Malta concept is built upon well-established principles in thermodynamics for a system that stores energy as heat (in molten salt) and as cold (in a chilled liquid). The project was incubated at X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory, which applies audacious thinking and radical new technologies to solve the world’s most challenging problems. Based on the research they’d seen, X identified the Malta system as a product that had the potential to unlock a wealth of inexpensive clean energy to address global energy demands.X’s team designed individual system components and evaluated whether the concept could work in the real world at a competitive price-point. The next two years were spent incubating the concept with a focus on derisking the most challenging concepts first. When it became clear that the technology had potential to be commercially viable at grid scale, Malta was formed outside of Alphabet as its own independent company.Ramya Swaminathan on Linked In <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramya-swaminathan-6a52a8b/Malta" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramya-swaminathan-6a52a8b/Malta</a> Inc website <a href="https://www.maltainc.com/News" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.maltainc.com/News</a> stories discussed this week3 things to know about Malta, the Google-incubated and Bill Gates-backed startup <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/3-things-know-about-malta-google-incubated-and-bill-gates-backed-startupFollow" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.greenbiz.com/article/3-things-know-about-malta-google-incubated-and-bill-gates-backed-startupFollow</a> us online, write a review (please) or subscribeI’m very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/weekincleantechFacebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter.com/weekincleantechFacebook</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thisweekincleantech/Instagram" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.facebook.com/thisweekincleantech/Instagram</a> <a href="http://www.instagram.com/davidhunt2013/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.instagram.com/davidhunt2013/</a>

Ramya Swaminathan, Malta Inc - Episode 18