Edinburgh University spinout Exergy3 has announced a £10m seed funding round, led by Axeleo Capital. The funding will help the startup scale its proprietary technology addressing three of Europe’s most pressing energy challenges: industrial decarbonisation, grid balancing and energy security. Its technology will tackle energy transition’s biggest inefficiencies, including renewable curtailment, converting surplus wind and solar power that would otherwise be wasted into high-temperature heat for industrial use.
In the UK alone, some £2.7bn was spent balancing the grid in 2024/25 – driven by a growing mismatch between supply and demand, as renewable generation increasingly exceeds what the system can absorb in real time. The result is a costly paradox: large volumes of low-carbon electricity are curtailed, even as system costs rise. At the same time, industry faces mounting pressure to secure reliable, affordable energy while reducing emissions.
“Industry needs reliable, high-temperature heat, while large amounts of renewable electricity are going to waste,” said Markus Rondé, CEO of Exergy3. “Exergy3 brings them together – turning surplus renewable power into reliable, low-cost heat for industry. That means lower emissions, lower energy costs, and a more resilient energy system. This funding allows us to move rapidly from pilot to commercial deployment.”
Industrial heat represents a significant share of global energy demand and emissions, yet remains structurally difficult to decarbonise due to its requirement for high, continuous temperatures across a wide range of processes. Simultaneously, increasing volumes of renewable electricity are curtailed as the system struggles to absorb generation in real time.
Exergy3 was created specifically to address this mismatch. Its technology converts surplus renewable electricity – such as curtailed wind power – into high-temperature heat for industrial use, turning excess generation into a usable energy source rather than wasted supply.
