Caldera to build industrial heat cells from rock and scrap metal

Founded in 2018, the startup has been developing its thermal storage technology over the past five years, initially targeting domestic heating with its Warmstone heat battery. Now the company is turning its attention to industrial heat, looking to scale up its technology. The £4.3m has been awarded via the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero’s Industrial Fuel Switching Competition and will allow Caldera to build a full-scale, industrial-size demonstrator at its Southampton site.

“Each heat cell contains a novel mixture of aluminium and either basalt or granite, which together make up 23 per cent of the earth’s crust,” said Caldera founder and CEO James Macnaghten. “We use scrap aluminium, which is cheap and abundant, and by combining these natural resources in the right way, we’ve created a ‘thermal super material’ which heats up phenomenally well and can store that heat for hours, ready to be released when required.

“Each system can be set to charge from the grid at night when cheaper and greener electricity is available, and can use on-site renewables, such as solar or wind. It can then rapidly deliver this heat as hot water or steam on demand.”