Alternō Secures Series A for Green Heat Tech

The Sand Battery Revolution: How Alternō’s Climate-Tech Breakthrough Could Decarbonize Industry
The fight against climate change has spawned a wave of innovation, but few solutions are as deceptively simple—or as potentially transformative—as Alternō’s sand battery. Founded in 2023, this climate-tech startup recently secured Series A funding, a vote of confidence in its audacious goal: eliminating 100 million tons of CO₂ annually by 2030. At the heart of Alternō’s strategy lies a humble yet revolutionary technology: thermal energy storage using sand, a material so ubiquitous it’s often overlooked. But in a world desperate for scalable, low-cost clean energy infrastructure, Alternō’s approach is anything but ordinary.
Sand batteries aren’t science fiction—they’re a pragmatic answer to one of renewable energy’s biggest hurdles: intermittency. Solar and wind power fluctuate, but industries need heat and electricity on demand. Alternō’s system stores excess renewable energy as heat in insulated sand, reaching temperatures up to 600°C with near-zero thermal loss. It’s a solution that’s dirt-cheap (literally) and emission-free, targeting sectors like agriculture where fossil fuels still dominate. With backing from UntroD Capital Asia and early investor Antler, Alternō is poised to scale this technology across Asia, where coal-dependent grids and energy-intensive industries make decarbonization urgent. But can a startup turn sand into the backbone of a zero-emission future? Let’s dig in.
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The Sand Battery: A Thermal Energy Game-Changer
Alternō’s patented technology hinges on a simple principle: sand is an exceptional medium for storing heat. Unlike lithium-ion batteries, which rely on scarce minerals, sand is locally abundant, non-toxic, and absurdly cheap. The system works by channeling renewable electricity into a heat-conducting tube network embedded in insulated sand, where energy stays trapped for days or even weeks. This “thermal battery” can then dispatch heat on demand for industrial processes like crop drying or space heating—applications traditionally reliant on coal or gas.
The implications are staggering. In Vietnam, where 80% of electricity comes from fossil fuels, sand batteries could slash emissions from rice drying alone, a process that currently burns through 2.5 million tons of coal yearly. Alternō’s pilot projects already demonstrate 40% cost savings over conventional systems, a figure that could widen as renewables get cheaper. But the real genius lies in scalability: sand storage requires no exotic supply chains, making it viable everywhere from rural farms to urban factories. As one Antler VC partner noted, “This isn’t just incremental—it’s a leapfrog technology.”
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Beyond Emissions: The Economic Ripple Effect
Decarbonization often comes with a premium, but Alternō’s model flips the script. By displacing fossil fuels, sand batteries cut operational costs while future-proofing businesses against carbon taxes and volatile fuel prices. A Vietnamese textile factory trialing the system reported a 30% reduction in energy expenses within six months—a selling point that’s galvanizing interest from industries under pressure to clean up their acts.
The economic case extends to job creation. Alternō’s supply chain prioritizes local materials, meaning manufacturing and installation could spur regional employment. In contrast to lithium mines (often mired in ethical and environmental controversies), sand mining is low-impact, and the batteries themselves have a lifespan exceeding 20 years with minimal maintenance. For emerging economies, this isn’t just climate tech—it’s a pathway to energy independence. As CEO Linh Tran emphasizes, “Our goal isn’t just to sell units; it’s to redefine how industries view energy resilience.”
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The Road to 2050: Scaling a Zero-Emission Vision
Alternō’s Series A funding accelerates its roadmap, but challenges remain. Regulatory hurdles in coal-reliant markets, like Indonesia and India, could slow adoption, and educating industries about thermal storage’s potential requires relentless outreach. Yet the startup’s timing is fortuitous: global investment in energy storage is projected to hit $620 billion by 2040, and Alternō’s sand solution is uniquely positioned to capture demand from mid-temperature industries (100–600°C), a segment largely ignored by current tech.
The startup’s 2050 vision—blanketing Asia with decentralized sand storage—aligns with IPCC directives to halve emissions by 2030. Partnerships with agricultural cooperatives and microgrid developers are already in motion, and the next phase targets food processing and cement production, two of the hardest-to-abate sectors. “Imagine a world where every rice mill has a sand battery instead of a smokestack,” says Tran. “That’s the future we’re building.”
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Alternō’s story is more than a startup success—it’s a blueprint for pragmatic climate action. By marrying low-tech materials with high-impact applications, the company proves that cutting emissions doesn’t require futuristic gadgets, just ingenuity. The sand battery’s elegance lies in its simplicity: it turns a wasted resource (excess renewable energy) and a cheap medium (sand) into a tool for systemic change. As funding pours into climate tech, Alternō’s model stands out not for flashiness, but for its unshakable realism. After all, in the race to net-zero, the best solutions might be the ones hiding in plain sight—or in this case, underfoot.