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Gediz Karaca never thought that the project he took on as part of his MBA entrepreneurship module at Oxford University could change his life. Today, the company that grew out of his project focusing on harnessing solar power to tackle the climate crisis has already received investment from reputable investors for their industry-first technology.

His company, Odqa Renewable Energy Technologies has developed a working prototype of a solar thermal receiver that can convert sunlight and generate steady state outlet temperatures as high as 1200o C in laboratory trials. The company is on course to conduct real world trials in 2023. Commercialization of this technology could totally transform the outlook for global availability of clean energy at very cheap rates and significantly reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

Odqa
Odqa Odqa

Gediz Karaca did not start out as a proponent for climate change. An engineer by training, after spending one year in the army, Gediz moved on to increasingly senior technical roles in the construction sector. He worked on many large infrastructure projects like a $50m key subway station project for the Turkish government. In 2016, he took a break to enrol for an MBA in one of the top business schools in the world, the Said Business School affiliated to Oxford University.

It was during his MBA that he came up with the idea of setting up an actual company for his entrepreneurship project. This set him thinking about the impact of the climate crisis on the world. At that time, the conventional thinking was to replace fossil fuels with electric energy as a cleaner alternative. But Gediz felt that storage of electric energy was too expensive to be commercially viable for grid-scale applications. He felt that it would be a better idea to explore the potential of concentrated solar thermal power instead. Solar energy is readily available, cheap and very easy to scale. When solar energy or heat is stored on a larger scale, less heat is lost. This is why the earth's core continues to be hot, even after 4.5 billion years.

Feeling that his idea had potential, Gediz put together a highly experienced team comprising experts he met through his university. His co-founder, Peter Ireland is the head of the Oxford Thermofluids Institute and is one of the top experts in the world in jet engine development. He brought to the team world-class modeling and research capabilities. His Technical Director, Ed Wood, has years of experience designing Formula One cars and played a key role in testing more than 200 iterations of the solar thermal receiver that the firm developed.

Within the short span of five years, Odqa Renewable Energy technologies was able to develop a working prototype of a solar thermal receiver that could convert solar power to achieve steady state solar flame temperatures as high as 1200o C. No other company in the renewable energy sector has achieved such a feat.

Odqa's invention paves the way for use of this heat in the industrial processes that uses heat for their thermochemical reaction in industries like mining and the cement industry. This would not only reduce the carbon footprint of these industries but the energy obtained would be cheaper than burning fossil fuels.

Commenting on the impact this invention can have on climate change, Gediz Karaca, CEO and co-founder of Odqa Renewable Energy Technologies said, "Our invention has the potential to become a key technology for the production of renewable energy in all net zero emissions scenarios. It offers many advantages including lower costs, higher efficiency, the ability to store thermal energy and of course to reduce or even eliminate dependence on fossil fuels. I give all credit to my highly experienced team who have seamlessly transferred their expertise in the field of aerospace and Formula One racing to develop the first working prototype of our proprietary solar thermal receiver. I hope that this marks the first step in our journey to become a key player in the renewable energy sector. We are a mission-driven company with the goal of changing the course of climate change."