Antora Energy Lands $50 Million for Thermal Energy Storage

<p><strong>SUNNYVALE<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; Antora Energy has raised &dollar;50 million for its thermal energy storage system led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures &&num;8212&semi; founded by Bill Gates &&num;8212&semi; and Lowercarbon Capital&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Antora Energy has unlocked a solution to deliver zero-emissions heat and electricity to heavy industry that is more reliable than fossil fuels&comma; and just as cheap&comma; according to Antora Energy CEO Andrew Ponec&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The manufacturing sector—including notoriously hard-to-decarbonize industries like cement&comma; steel&comma; and petrochemicals—accounts for a staggering 30&percnt; of global greenhouse gas emissions&period; Today&comma; there aren’t scalable solutions to clean up the major drivers of these emissions—heat and power from combusting coal and gas&comma;” Ponec says&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Partnering with Breakthrough Energy Ventures&comma; Lowercarbon Capital&comma; and our strong syndicate of other investors brings the resources and know-how to scale up our business and wipe out billions of tons of CO2 emissions per year&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Additional investors include Shell Ventures&comma; BHP Ventures&comma; Grok Ventures&comma; Trust Ventures&comma; Overture VC&comma; Impact Science Ventures&comma; and existing investor Fifty Years VC&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Antora’s thermal energy storage system soaks up inexpensive renewable electricity and stores it as high-temperature heat&period; This stored thermal energy can then be used directly to provide process heat up to 1500°C or converted back to electricity&period; In other words&comma; Antora turns wind and solar into 24&sol;7 power and heat and sets industry on a course to cheap&comma; clean&comma; around-the-clock energy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Antora Energy has been developing their technology since being founded in 2018 with support from the Department of Energy&comma; the California Energy Commission&comma; the National Science Foundation&comma; the Activate Fellowship&comma; and private investors&period; With a recent Series A and previous funding under their belts&comma; Antora will build out their first customer-sited projects and speed up hiring&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are building a diverse team of compassionate people who find joy in their work and are driven to stop climate change&comma;” says Ponec&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Clean energy storage for industrial heat and power will be a key enabler of tomorrow’s zero carbon world&period; Antora Energy will have a major impact on lowering carbon emissions stemming from the manufacturing industry&period; We look forward to our partnership with Antora to help bring their critical new product to market&comma;” said Carmichael Roberts&comma; Breakthrough Energy Ventures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chris Sacca&comma; Chairman at Lowercarbon Capital&comma; said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Antora makes heat and electricity from solar panels cheaper than burning gas&period; That’s lights out for fossil fuels&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;