MGA Thermal lands an extra $5.7 million in funding

MGA Thermal has landed an extra $5.7 million in funding taking its recent round total to about $14 million.

Executive Chair and Chief Scientist Erich Kisi (L) and CEO Mark Croudace (R)

The latest funding round saw returning investors including Main Sequence, Melt Ventures and new investor JEKARA back the Australian clean energy company.

MGA Thermal’s total funds and grants have now reached around $28.8 million.

The NSW-based company said the new backing will be used to aid its next testing phase to demonstrate the scalability of MGA Thermal’s thermal energy storage (TES) system.

MGA Thermal’s goal is to reduce 30 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030 or the equivalent of over 23 years of Sydney to LA flights.

The company believes steam power has seen minimal development in the last 150 years, despite steam underpinning many major industrial processes and responsible for 23 percent of Australia’s total energy demand. 

Late 2023 saw MGA Thermal communion a process for its demonstration unit to evaluate the technology, leading to identifying areas for improvement.

The unit is located at MGA Thermal’s Tomago headquarters and is 12m long, 3m wide and 4m tall. 

The unit will be able to produce and store energy at 5 MWh, enough energy to power more than 135 homes for 24 hours.

Mark Croudace, CEO of MGA Thermal said, “This was a valuable learning opportunity that will ultimately strengthen our TES system development.”

“We’ve gained insights that will help accelerate our progress as we prepare to resume commissioning of our demonstration unit.”

Croudace said the company's mission of “revolutionising the renewable energy landscape has never been stronger”.

“With the continued support of our investors and partners, we remain on track to reach our next business milestone of commercial-scale operations and energy output.”

He said the company has been working with “numerous industrial partners and clients over the last six months” who “cannot solely rely on solar, wind and renewable energy sources to meet their decarbonisation goals.”

“We’re excited to realise the next phase of our partnerships through the implementation of an on-site MGA Thermal TES system to supply ongoing clean-steam and energy storage capabilities,” Croudace said.