Apollo Development, LLC is a renewable energy developer dedicated to creating a cleaner future by harnessing the power of solar-driven technologies.
Through our strategic partnership with EnviroMission, the Apollo team is licensing revolutionary solar updraft energy-generating technology called Solar Towers (Towers).
The large-scale towers funnel hot air driven upward by a temperature differential to spin turbines at the base of the tower to create electricity. They’re cost competitive with fossil fuel and provide 100% green energy production.
Read on to discover how Apollo Development plans to break ground with their first Solar Tower and set an all new standard in renewable energy technology to leave a cleaner legacy for our children and for generations to come.
As greenhouse gas emissions, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide emissions and particulates, and mercury emissions continue to pump pollutants and toxins into the environment, the push for more sustainable renewable energy generation is an increasing environmental necessity.
This necessity has created a booming market poised to continue growing rapidly across all industry segments — including residential, non-residential, and utility.
With the EPA fixing their aim on shutting down coal and lignite power plants, states like Texas — which boasts the strongest economy in the U.S. while sourcing nearly 40% of its energy from coal and lignite-burning plants — suddenly find themselves up against an enormous retrofitting battle to maintain compliance.
While existing high-tech natural gas plants can handle load increases, the natural gas market price is volatile and unpredictable for owners and investors. This leaves a particularly huge market demand for an expanded renewable power generation infrastructure.
Adding to the Texas energy supply problem are drought conditions that threaten cooling water availability. Moreover, current renewable energy solutions like wind and solar plants are significantly more expensive to build and operate, and are dependent upon government subsidies for investor return. Lastly, the energy that these alternative solutions generate are intermittent and disruptive.
With the Solar Tower, we’re providing a 100% sustainable energy solution that’s more effective, efficient, and affordable compared to fossil fuels and conventional renewables.
The Solar Tower technology uses heat from the sun as its primary energy source. By harnessing sun-heated air to power a system of turbines, the Solar Towers are able to generate clean energy — without air or ground pollution.
There are three primary components at the core of the Solar Tower technology:
The Canopy
When the sun strikes the ground, it heats the air under the canopy, creating a natural draft.
The Tower
As the heated air rises up the tower’s central chimney, cooler air enters under the canopy, displacing and pushing the heated air to create a solar-generated “wind” at a constant 35 MPH.
The Turbines
There are 32 turbine/generators installed in the orifices at the base of the tower. The 35 MPH solar-created wind moves across the ducted turbine blades, causing rotation. That energy is transformed into mechanical energy, which then produces electricity.
The Solar Tower addresses major technical issues in the renewable power generation market:
Through mandates such as California SB350 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the renewable market’s share of the future energy landscape is rapidly expanding.
The solar tower solution is capable of generating 24/7, unlike its renewable counterparts such as wind. The generation characteristics conform to the load curve like fossil-fueled generation sources.
The assets require no fuel, and have substantially lower operational costs than coal, nuclear, or gas generation with projected profit margins exceeding coal and other generation technologies. The technology uses simple physics to operate, consisting of relatively few moving parts requiring less maintenance and replacement than other renewable sources. And the workforce required to operate the asset is a fraction of the nearest competitor.
Other renewable energy sources have challenges with reliability accompanied by ecological objections. The Solar Tower technology has none of these challenges.
The Solar Tower is projected to be profitable with or without government subsidies.
The asset qualifies for Renewable Energy Investment tax credits significantly enhancing investor returns for the projects.
While our ultimate goal is to develop and manage multiple Solar Tower plants across the US, our initial goal is to launch the first Tower in Texas, as the state represents a prime candidate for a much-needed innovative addition to its renewable energy technology supply mix.
This is due not only to political and economic factors, but because it’s particularly dry, arid climate provides the ideal conditions for the Solar Tower technology, which relies only on heat from the sun.
If everything’s bigger in Texas, then the Solar Tower indeed gives all new, more literal meaning to that motto.
The reason for the Solar Tower’s skyscraping height isn’t merely to see who can outdo who in building the world’s tallest structure.
It’s because it’s designed to generate a whopping 200MW of power with an initial annual production of 1,138,000 MWh.
Apollo Development is already well past the concept stage — decades past it, in fact — as the initial concept behind the Solar Tower technology was first put into motion over 35 years ago.
A proof-of-concept demonstration was first launched in Manzanares, Spain with a 50 KW pilot plant that ran unmanned for 7 years day and night. While smaller in scale than our planned Solar Tower, the data gathered from this trial successfully validated the Solar Tower technology’s efficacy in harnessing air heated solely by the sun to drive turbines and generate electricity constantly and consistently.
Timeline
Strategic Partnerships
We have formed key partnerships and strategic alliances with the following companies to execute the design and construction of the Solar Tower:
Stimulating Economic Growth
With the construction of the first Solar Tower in Texas and/or New Mexico, Apollo Development will bring over 200 new jobs to the area in development work alone.
Want to learn more about Apollo Development and their vision for the future? Make sure to request access to the Business Plan tab of the profile to find out how you can get involved!
Apollo Development was founded by a group of experienced entrepreneurs who previously founded Stream Energy — a company they initially operated out of a bedroom before scaling it to a $7 billion-dollar business in less than 10 years. Stream Energy is now a successful wholesaler of electricity and natural gas in five states with a national expansion planned in the near future.
FOUNDERS AND MANAGEMENT TEAM
Stream Energy founding team. Co-founded and grew Stream into a billion dollar company. Served as CEO and President of several public companies and serves as Chairman of the executive committee of the National Energy Marketers Association.
Over 39 years of energy and power project experience in electricity generation development, operations, maintenance, grid operations, wholesale, and retail market operations. Stream Energy founding executive team.
Served as an Executive Director, trainer, and public speaker with the marketing arm of Stream Energy for the past 12 years. Nearly four decades in military and commercial aviation, flight and ground standardization trainer.
ADVISORS
Robert A. Malphurs | Advisor | Accounting & Tax
Founder of Robert A. Malphurs, P.C. More than thirty years experience assisting early stage companies with their needs from entity formation to venture capital negotiations. Employed in the audit and related departments at KPMG and its predecessor and other leading firms prior to founding his own company in 1980.
Norm Oliver | Advisor | Finance & Planning
35 years of corporate and entrepreneurial startup leadership experience in electricity, natural gas and nuclear power management and ops.
Bryan Pregler | Advisor | Finance, Strategy and Risk Management
20 years of experience in the energy industry, including energy marketing management and trading portfolios and strategic consulting with KPMG for some of the world’s largest energy companies.
Silveron Capital Partners | Advisors | Finance
A Dallas, TX-based financial advisory and investment banking firm that helps sponsor companies identify various types of capital and complete financing transactions in early to middle stages of their corporate growth. Silveron is focused principally on the energy and infrastructure sectors, including renewable and traditional power development, renewable fuels, alternative energy technologies, oil & gas exploration, and oilfield services.
Damir Perge | Advisor | Finance, Strategy
Damir is an entrepreneur, former venture capitalist, author and complexity scientist. He is the founder of entrepreneurdex, a startup studio using complexity science to fund, launch, accelerate, and scale startups and growing businesses. In his business career, Damir has raised over $300 million in capital for various companies and invested more than $50 million as a VC in startups and emerging companies.