INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES REQUIRE CONTINUOUS HEAT AND POWER THAT, CURRENTLY, ONLY FOSSIL FUELS CAN PROVIDE RELIABLY AND COST-EFFECTIVELY, MAKING THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR THE LARGEST SOURCE OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN THE US. THE RAPID GROWTH OF WIND AND SOLAR ENERGY HAS CREATED AN UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITY TO REPLACE FOSSIL FUELS WITH LOW- OR ZERO-EMISSIONS POWER, BUT INTERMITTENT GENERATION HAS LIMITED DEPLOYMENT AS A PRIMARY SOURCE OF INDUSTRIAL POWER. ANTORA ENERGY IS ADDRESSING THIS CHALLENGE BY TURNING EXCESS RENEWABLE GENERATION INTO RELIABLE, ON-DEMAND HEAT AND POWER FOR INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES. ANTORA’S COMBINED HEAT AND POWER (CHP) THERMAL BATTERY IS CHARGED WITH RENEWABLE POWER AND CAN DISCHARGE BOTH HEAT AND ELECTRICITY, THE LATTER VIA A SOLID-STATE HEAT ENGINE (SSHE) COMPOSED OF THERMOPHOTOVOLTAIC (TPV) CELLS. THE TPV CELL IS MANUFACTURED USING AN EXPENSIVE SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER THAT DOMINATES THE OVERALL SYSTEM COST. RECENTLY, ANTORA DEMONSTRATED A NEW TPV MANUFACTURING METHOD THAT ENABLES DRAMATICALLY LOWER OVERALL COSTS. IN SCALE-UP, ANTORA PROPOSES SCALING THIS LOW-COST TPV AND SSHE MANUFACTURING TO A 10 MW/YEAR PRE-COMMERCIAL PILOT LEVEL, UNLOCKING THE INVESTMENT NEEDED FOR FULL COMMERCIAL-SCALE PRODUCTION. TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL, ANTORA WILL (1) VERTICALLY INTEGRATE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES AND TOOLS; (2) PRODUCTIZE TPV INTO AN INTEGRATED SSHE; (3) VERIFY SSHE AND TPV COST AND PERFORMANCE METRICS; AND (4) DEVELOP A TECHNO-ECONOMIC MODEL AND MARKET ANALYSIS WITH INPUT FROM KEY COMMERCIALIZATION PARTNERS. IF SUCCESSFUL, ANTORA WILL ENABLE RAPID DECARBONIZATION IN THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR (>225 GW), BOLSTER US ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY, AND CREATE HIGH-PAYING JOBS IN THE DOMESTIC ENERGY AND MANUFACTURING SECTORS.
$15,221,496FY2025Department of EnergyDOE
Antora Energy, Inc., Sunnyvale