Harvest Thermal sells a compact control pod paired with an oversized hot-water storage tank to shift heat-pump operation to times of cheap or clean electricity. The pod uses flow meters, temperature sensors and continuous fluid-dynamics modeling to know tank temperatures within about 4°F and to decide when to run the heat pump. The system pairs a 119-gallon tank with off-the-shelf heat pumps and can size installations for houses, larger homes, apartments, or condos. The company says customers typically save about 30% on utility bills by exploiting time-of-use pricing and solar production. Harvest Thermal has installed over 100 systems in California and Oregon and was founded in 2019. The startup plans to expand its installer network and work with a range of heat-pump manufacturers; new funding will extend its runway while it seeks more customers. Harvest Thermal develops and manufactures an ultra-efficient, all-electric heating, hot water and cooling platform for the residential market. Its core product, the Harvest Thermal Pod™, combines cloud-enabled analytics, electronic controls and machine learning with hardware to slash carbon emissions and lower energy bills. In SBIR Phase I pilots the Pod demonstrated emissions reductions of more than 90% versus gas, 50% versus standard heat pumps, and bill savings up to 40%. The system runs a single heat pump and uses the water tank as a thermal battery to shift electric load to cleaner, cheaper times while discharging steady heating and hot water on demand. NSF SBIR Phase II funding will be used to prepare the system for commercial scale by reducing costs, augmenting cloud infrastructure and remote diagnostics, and enhancing security protections. Founded in 2019 and based in Berkeley, CA, Harvest Thermal has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the California Energy Commission, and private investors.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Oct 2023