COMPANY NAME: Alternо̄
PILOT DATE: August–November 2024
SUMMARY
Alternō showcased its innovative, low-cost thermal energy storage solution through a successful pilot at PepsiCo’s food plant in Vietnam. This pilot sought to prove that sand storage batteries can help reduce natural gas energy usage in snacks manufacturing. Efficient construction, deployment, and scalability of Alternō’s batteries helped the startup win PepsiCo’s 2024 APAC Greenhouse Accelerate (GHAC) Program.
The team is now working to scale its sand battery technology across a variety of industries, as well as refine its solution to heat oil.
THE COMPANY
Hailing from Vietnam, Alternō is a pioneering energy solutions provider specializing in thermal battery technology. The company is committed to delivering sustainable, efficient energy storage and heating solutions to businesses in an array of industries, including sustainable agriculture.
THE OBJECTIVE / CHALLENGES
Throughout the Pepsico GHAC 2024, Alternō sought to expand its customer base and demonstrate its sand battery-based energy storage solution to food and beverage production processes.
THE PILOT
After being named a finalist in May 2024, Alternō launched a pilot at PepsiCo’s food plant in Vietnam with the aim of deploying sand battery technology as a reduced-carbon solution for drying snacks and heating oil—processes that traditionally rely on natural gas and fossil fuel-based energy. PepsiCo worked closely with Alternō to develop their solution, which stores solar power that can then be used in heating applications.
As PepsiCo is constantly looking for ways to improve processes and introduce more efficient technology, Alternō’s low-cost, and low-carbon energy alternative helped the company develop a more sustainable process for its extensive snack production business.
THE IMPACT/RESULTS
After working with the PepsiCo team in a first-of-its-kind pilot that applied thermal energy stored in sand batteries to drying pellets, this pilot reduced the total usage of natural gas in one part of the snack production process, proving that renewable electricity stored in Alternō’s batteries can be used to partially substitute fossil-fuel based energy.
Alternō won the PepsiCo GHAC 2024, due to their flexible business model, solution for replacing fossil fuel-based energy, collaborative spirit and geographic scalability.
The $100,000 prize awarded to Alternō is helping the team further develop and scale the company’s sand battery technology. The team is also continuing their work with PepsiCo, trialing a use case for heating oil.
“PepsiCo’s mentorship and resources have helped us sharpen our strategy and accelerate our growth. This win is a pivotal moment for us, and we look forward to further collaboration with PepsiCo to expand the reach of our solution and contribute to a more sustainable future.” – Hai Ho, Co-founder and CEO, Alternō
