Antora Energy Announces U.S. Thermal Battery Manufacturing Facility
Factory Marks Significant Milestone for Large-Scale Industrial Decarbonization and Domestic Manufacturing
October 24, 2023
SUNNYVALE, Calif—Antora Energy, a leader in zero-carbon heat and power for the industrial sector, has announced its first large-scale thermal battery manufacturing facility. Located in San Jose, California, the 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility will be equipped to produce Antora’s modular thermal batteries, creating and supporting hundreds of U.S. jobs. These thermal battery modules will be used for Antora's first major commercial projects, with initial units rolling off the production line in 2024. Antora plans to open additional, larger manufacturing sites in the coming years to meet the growing demand for its product.
Antora’s factory-made thermal batteries consist of not only a storage medium—carbon blocks—but also insulation, enclosures, charging and discharging equipment, and other components that comprise an integrated module. These thermal batteries will leave the facility ready to be road-shipped and installed at industrial sites across the country, providing a drop-in decarbonization solution that directly displaces on-site fossil fuel use.
“Our company exists as it does today because of critical early support from the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of California, and we are proud that Antora’s first thermal battery manufacturing facility will be located in the state and country that made our company possible,” said Andrew Ponec, co-founder and CEO, Antora Energy. “Our product is now proven and ready to scale, and this facility will manufacture thermal battery modules that are ready to plug directly into renewable electricity, output 24/7 heat for industrial customers, and electrify American factories with batteries made in an American factory.”
Antora’s thermal batteries store renewable energy as heat in blocks of solid carbon, an earth-abundant material with extensive existing supply chains on six continents. The production made possible at this thermal battery facility will have a significant impact on decarbonizing industrial heat, which accounts for over 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
The announcement of Antora’s thermal battery manufacturing facility follows the launch of the company’s first commercial-scale thermal battery system at an industrial site near Fresno, California. This also comes on the heels of Antora’s landmark thermophotovoltaic (TPV) production facility announced last year—a first-of-a-kind facility producing Antora’s heat-to-power technology that will be used in future thermal battery products.
About Antora Energy
Based in Sunnyvale, CA, Antora converts low-cost, intermittent renewable electricity into reliable, on-demand, zero-emissions industrial heat and power. Antora’s thermal batteries can discharge zero-emissions electricity and/or heat at temperatures hot enough to address the hardest-to-decarbonize industrial applications. Antora’s technology will eliminate gigatons of emissions while increasing U.S. energy security, reducing our nation's dependence on global supply chains, and supporting American jobs. The company is backed by leading investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Shell Ventures, BHP Ventures, Trust Ventures, Fifty Years, Grok Ventures, Impact Science Ventures, and Overture VC. Visit www.antoraenergy.com and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.