Company behind Australia’s largest thermal storage project wins Arena funding

New South Wales headquartered energy storage hopeful MGA Thermal has been awarded $3.25 million in federal government funding via the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena), to speed up commercialisation of its proprietary thermal energy storage (TES) technology.

Arena said on Wednesday the funding will go towards up to five front-end engineering design (FEED) studies focused on the deployment of MGA Thermal’s TES technology, which is designed to supply 24/7 industrial heat and power for grid and industrial use.

The studies will focus on the electrification of process heat for target customers and facilities that are eligible for funding under the Industrial Transformance Stream (ITS) Program Guidelines, with the primary objective to accelerate the commercialisation of MGA Thermal’s TES technology.

MGA Thermal’s TES technology is centred around its patented Miscibility Gap Alloy (MGA) material manufactured as MGA Blocks, which can store and deliver thermal energy while remaining outwardly solid.

Image: MGA Thermal

Specifically, the blocks are designed using two key materials – tiny metal alloy particles dispersed through a matrix material. The small particles melt as the blocks are heated and energy is absorbed even while the matrix material itself remains solid, keeping the molten particles in place.

This allows energy to be stored in the solid-to-liquid phase and release as the blocks cool.

Capable of providing large-scale long-duration energy storage ranging from 5 megawatt-hours (MWh) up to potential designs as large as 6 gigawatt-hours (GWh), MGA Blocks enable continuous 24/7 discharge of renewable energy with an electricity-to-steam round trip efficiency as high as 93 per cent.

MGA Thermal considers industrial heat to be the core application of its technology, offering industry a scalable means of firming variable renewable generation into a reliable and versatile supply of steam or steam and electricity between 150°C and 550°C and can scale to GW thermal.

“Decarbonising industrial process heat is critical to Australia’s net zero transition, but it remains one of the hardest problems to solve,” said Darren Miller, ARENA CEO.  

“By supporting detailed FEED studies, this project could give industrial customers greater confidence in the technical and commercial viability of TES, helping move promising projects closer to investment and deployment.”

MGA Thermal successfully commissioned a demonstration plant in April of 2025. The company also announced in July of 2025 “significant progress” on the development of a proposed 180 MWh industrial-scale TESA project in Western Australia with Western Australian based energy company Knode.

MGA Thermal’s Electro-Thermal Energy Storage demonstrator
Image Credit: MGA Thermal

The five FEED studies will advance high-conviction pipeline commercial opportunities with strategic customers, producing detailed technical designs, cost estimates, delivery schedules, risk assessments, and commercial strategies aimed at accelerating project investment readiness and wider TES adoption across Australia’s industrial sector.

Insights from the five FEED studies will also be shared more broadly to inform industry of the opportunities of thermal energy storage, the barriers to adoption, and potential solutions to enable wider uptake.

“ARENA’s backing gives industry the capacity to move forward with technical and commercial certainty enabling investment in TES projects,” said Mark Croudace, MGA Thermal CEO.

“We’re excited to work with forward thinking industrial companies who are ready to lead their transition.”

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