Slashing CO2Making solar and wind work 24/7.
Big Picture
Industry is the single largest driver of climate change, accounting for 30% of global emissions. For centuries, fossil fuels have been heavy industry’s only option for reliable, cost-effective energy. But over the last decade, wind and solar have become the lowest-cost sources of primary energy on Earth. Converting this cheap, intermittent energy into always-on heat and power will unlock zero-emissions industrial energy that’s cheaper than fossil fuels.
How It Works
Antora has built an energy storage system that stores heat in extremely cheap and abundant raw materials. These thermal batteries rapidly charge when electricity is cheap by heating up blocks of solid carbon to glowing-hot temperatures. The thermal batteries then discharge heat 24/7 at the scale and temperatures that large industrial operations demand, or convert that stored heat back to electricity with a high-efficiency thermophotovoltaic heat engine.
Unfair Advantage
Antora’s heat-to-power technology is the highest efficiency solid state heat engine in history. This superpower enables a low-cost, modular battery that can deliver zero-emissions electricity in addition to zero-emissions heat – at a fraction of the cost of lithium-ion batteries. This will bring down the price of renewable energy with storage below the all-in cost of fossil fuel energy, thus enabling 100% carbon-free energy.
90
Percent cheaper
than lithium-ion for multi-day storage
ANDREW PONEC CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Andrew previously founded Dragonfly Systems, a power electronics startup acquired by Sunpower.
JUSTIN BRIGGS COO & CO-FOUNDER
Before co-founding Antora, Justin was a PhD candidate in Applied Physics at Stanford.
DAVID BIERMAN CCO & CO-FOUNDER
Before co-founding Antora, David completed a PhD in mechanical engineering at MIT.
Turning sunshine and wind into 24/7 industrial heat and power — cheaper than fossil fuels
Antora
Bill Gates and Chris Sacca invest in energy storage start-up Antora to help heavy industry go green
CNBC