To put it simply: Antora Energy, a startup focused on decarbonizing industry by converting low-cost, intermittent renewable electricity into reliable industrial energy, would not be where it is today (Jan 18) without the help of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
"We got our first thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells from NREL in 2018," said Tarun Narayan, principal engineer at Antora. "Cells from NREL are among the most efficient TPV cells ever made. If we didn't have NREL and we had to figure it out ourselves, we'd probably still be figuring it out."
Antora is not alone in the sentiment.
"In the beginning, we had this new idea, but we had no money," said Peter Luttik, former vice president of technology for 7AC Technologies and, after the company was acquired, now a consultant for Copeland. "With NREL's help, investors knew that this was not just a bunch of guys in a garage."
NREL and its corporate and philanthropic program-sponsor partners often help startups like Antora and 7AC get off the ground and start the journey to bring disruptive technologies into the market. It occurs early in a startup's development when NREL can validate emerging technologies with experts and equipment that startups often cannot otherwise afford or access.
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NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
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David Glickson
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