ODQA's Solar Tower Reaches 800°C to Replace the Industrial Gas Burner

The problem with industrial heat is that it is, well, hot. For heavy industries like cement, steel, and mining, the energy required isn't just about turning a motor; it's about maintaining a roaring, thousand-degree inferno inside a kiln or dryer, day and night. This is the domain of the gas burner, a stubbornly fossil-fueled piece of equipment responsible for about a quarter of global energy-related CO2 emissions. Replacing it with sunshine sounds like a nice idea, until you realize you need to concentrate enough of it, reliably enough, to hit 800 degrees Celsius or more. An Oxford spinout called ODQA has spent nearly a decade engineering a mirror-based system to do exactly that, and its recent $14.7 million Series A is a bet that heavy industry is finally ready to look at the sun [cbinsights.com, Mar 2026].

The drop-in solar wedge

ODQA's wedge is elegantly direct. Instead of converting sunlight to electricity and then back to heat,a process with significant conversion losses,its system concentrates sunlight with a field of computer-controlled mirrors, or heliostats, onto a central tower. There, a proprietary air-based receiver heats air to extreme temperatures. This superheated air can then be piped directly into an existing industrial rotary kiln or dryer, acting as a drop-in replacement for the fossil-fuel burner [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF, retrieved 2026]. The company's flagship product, the Odqa Converger, is packaged as this fully integrated solar thermal solution [odqa.com/solutions/, retrieved 2026]. The key technical claim is temperature: ODQA reports its system has demonstrated 800°C in a commercial setting and a blistering 1,200°C in the laboratory [Mining.com.au, May 2026] [Envirotec Magazine, May 2026]. For context, cement production requires kiln temperatures between 1,400°C and 1,500°C, but pre-heating and many other processes sit comfortably within ODQA's range.

From Oxford lab to Spanish desert

The company's roots are firmly academic, spun out from the University of Oxford's Thermofluids Institute and Said Business School in 2017. Co-founder and Chief Science Officer Peter Ireland, who holds the Donald Schultz Chair in Turbomachinery, provides the deep thermofluids research backbone [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF, retrieved 2026]. The operational helm has seen a transition from original co-founder Gediz Karaca to, according to recent reports, CEO Chris Kimmett, suggesting a shift from pure R&D to commercial deployment [Mining.com.au, May 2026] [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026]. The company's primary proving ground is now the sun-baked Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) in Spain, where it is launching a full-scale system demonstration [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF, retrieved 2026]. This move from Oxford lab to a major European solar research facility is a critical step toward proving real-world reliability.

Funding has followed a gradual, institution-backed path, with Oxford Science Enterprises as a consistent anchor investor.

2018 Seed | 0.57 | M USD
2020 Convertible Loan | (undisclosed) |
2026 Series A | 14.68 | M USD

The company's funding history shows patience, with an early seed round in 2018, a UK government Future Fund convertible loan in 2020, and the significant $14.7 million Series A arriving just this year [Crunchbase, Feb 2018] [University of Oxford, Sep 2026] [cbinsights.com, Mar 2026]. This capital is presumably earmarked for scaling the Almería demonstration and engaging with first commercial customers in target sectors like mining, metals, and cement [odqa.com/about/, retrieved 2026].

The economics of sunshine

The sales pitch to a mining or cement CFO rests on three pillars, none of which are primarily about altruism. ODQA argues its systems can reduce carbon exposure (and associated taxes or tariffs), stabilize long-term energy costs by locking in a free fuel source, and strengthen operational resilience against fossil fuel price volatility [BusinessCloud, retrieved 2026]. The model is inherently geographical, requiring strong, consistent solar resources and available land for the heliostat field,a natural fit for mining operations in Chile or Australia, or industrial clusters in Southern Europe and the Middle East [BusinessCloud, retrieved 2026].

The competitive landscape is less about other solar thermal startups and more about the entrenched incumbent: the natural gas burner. ODQA must beat it on total cost of heat over a system's lifetime. The risks are substantial and hardware-hard.

• Intermittency. The sun sets. For 24/7 industrial processes, this requires cost-effective thermal storage. ODQA incorporates rock-bed storage, but the efficiency and cost of storing air at 800°C for hours are non-trivial engineering challenges.
• Capital intensity. A field of mirrors and a solar tower represent a major upfront capital expenditure. Convincing an industrial operator to make this swap requires compelling financing models and a proven track record of uptime that simply doesn't exist yet.
• Land and logistics. A solar thermal plant is land-hungry. Siting it near an existing industrial facility, and securing all necessary permits, adds layers of complexity beyond the core technology.

The next twelve months

The coming year is about moving from a promising demonstration to a referenced commercial installation. Success at the Plataforma Solar de Almería will be measured in continuous operating hours and delivered heat quality. The real milestone to watch for is a signed contract with an industrial customer for a system that isn't purely a R&D partnership. Sectors like mineral processing or non-metallic mining, where temperature requirements align perfectly with ODQA's 800°C commercial proof point, are likely the first beachhead.

A simple back-of-the-envelope calculation illustrates the stakes. A single mid-sized gas-fired rotary kiln might consume around 3-4 megawatts of thermal energy. Running it on natural gas for a year could burn roughly 25,000 MMBtus of gas, emitting about 1,400 metric tons of CO2. Replacing that with solar heat, in a sunny region, could avoid those emissions entirely. The question is whether ODQA can deliver that heat at a total cost that makes the CFO look past the capex. Their ultimate competitor isn't another startup; it's a decades-old, perfectly optimized, and politically supported gas pipeline network. To win, ODQA's mirrors must concentrate not just light, but capital and industrial courage.

Sources

1. [cbinsights.com, Mar 2026] Odqa Renewable Energy Technologies funding round | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/odqa-renewable-energy-technologies
2. [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF, retrieved 2026] ODQA research brief
3. [Mining.com.au, May 2026] Oxford University start-up addresses decarbonisation challenge | https://mining.com.au/oxford-university-start-up-addresses-decarbonisation-challenge/
4. [Envirotec Magazine, May 2026] UK startup claims breakthrough in high-temperature solar heat for industry | https://envirotecmagazine.com/2026/05/06/uk-startup-claims-breakthrough-in-high-temperature-solar-heat-for-industry
5. [odqa.com/solutions/, retrieved 2026] Odqa Converger product page | https://odqa.com/solutions/
6. [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] Chris Kimmett profile | https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriskimmett/
7. [Crunchbase, Feb 2018] Seed Round - Odqa Renewable Energy Technologies | https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/odqa-renewable-energy-technologies-seed--46dacb4d
8. [University of Oxford, Sep 2026] Case Study: Odqa Solar power and energy demands | https://eng.ox.ac.uk/case-studies/shaping-solar-energy-to-meet-demands
9. [odqa.com/about/, retrieved 2026] Oxford University Spin-out Decarbonising Industrial Heat | https://odqa.com/about/
10. [BusinessCloud, retrieved 2026] Article on Odqa's value proposition | Source URL not captured in provided snippets