Manufacturing Scale-up of Record Breaking Solid-State Heat Engine for Deep Decarbonization in California

Antora Energy has developed a new type of solid-state heat engine that is a critical tool in achieving a reliable, affordable, and zero-carbon energy system in California. The operation of Antora’s thermophotovoltaic (TPV) heat engine is similar to that of a solar photovoltaic panel; it converts thermal radiation emitted from any high-temperature source directly into electricity.

Production and deployment of Antora’s TPV-enabled thermal batteries will improve both ratepayer safety and electricity reliability. They will enable faster deployment of energy storage systems to power communities during public safety power shutoff events, which will reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires without endangering vulnerable populations; and, given their extremely low capital and operating costs (they cost 10 times less than lithium-ion batteries), they can provide safe, reliable, and inexpensive electricity storage to support deeper penetrations of renewables on the California grid and help the state meet the state’s statutory energy goal of 100 percent renewable retail electricity by 2045.

Antora Energy’s purpose in conducting this project was to demonstrate Manufacturing Readiness Level 8 for these TPV heat engines by building a low-rate initial production pilot production line for TPV cells. The production goal was a nameplate capacity of at least two megawatts (MW)/year. To achieve this goal, the TPV cell fabrication had to be performed with batch processing of full wafers, and the TPV cell characterization had to be automated.

The team has demonstrated all of the process steps on Antora’s tools and has quantified the takt time per wafer and compared it against what is required for 2 MW/year production. All steps and tools have been shown to be compatible with the 2 MW/year requirement, and MRL 8 was achieved. Also, during the project, the team confirmed a diversified, robust, and qualified supply chain for TPV manufacturing at the low-rate initial production scale (and larger).