The price of solar energy has dropped about 90% in the past 10 years, making it not only a green solution but a cost-effective one.
Harnessing that energy, Austin’s Yotta Energy plans to launch its solar storage flagship product, SolarLEAF, next year, said CEO Omeed Badkoobeh.
Yotta has developed a decentralized, panel-level storage system with thermal regulation — batteries designed to integrate directly behind solar panels.
“The next frontier for solar is ‘How do we solve energy storage’?” Badkoobeh said. “That’s how we really get to compete against fossil fuels.”
Founded in 2017, Yotta has raised $6.9 million in equity funding and received in-kind contributions and grants for a total of about $7.5 million in funding.
Yotta was in the research and development phase its first two years. It’s been selling to strategic customers and pilot sites and plans to launch formally in the middle of next year. Right now the focus is on commercial systems and rooftops, but eventually Yotta plans to enter the residential arena.
“Rather than have one big battery that takes up your interior building space or you have to put in your parking lot, what we do is build modular batteries, panel-level storage,” Badkoobeh explained. “It’s more streamlined and not on the ground. We invented the thermal management system that enables the product.”
For laypeople, Badkoobeh says simply: “We can turn any rooftop into a power plant. Solar is like the computer. Storage is like the internet. It unlocks a whole lot of possibilities.”
The Solar Impulse Foundation recently awarded Yotta with its Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label.
The foundation is identifying 1,000 solutions that can protect the environment in a profitable way. Yotta was one of 58 companies awarded the label in November. The foundation recognized Yotta for contributing to the United Nations’ sustainability goal of affordable and clean energy. The label is essentially a seal of approval, said Badkoobeh, who previously worked at Tesla.
Yotta’s regulation technology allows its batteries to withstand extreme weather and last more than 20 years, the company said. Its solution also is scaleable, allowing future additions of energy storage as a customer’s needs grow. The company said its SolarLEAF allows for the lowest installed costs for adding energy storage to any solar PV system.
Yotta is growing. Its staff of 12 will increase to 15 in the next few months.
The Covid-19 pandemic was “a little scary at first, but we were still able to raise our round of capital,” Badkoobeh said.
“You have to keep your focus on growth organically. Any time you’re trying to invent something new that goes against common thought patterns, you’re going to come across barriers. It helped that I used to design a lot of these systems.”
Yotta is focusing on the U.S. market initially and then will turn its attention worldwide.
“We want to get more solar storage deployed all over the world,” he said.
