Aytac Yilmaz (Ore Energy): ‘It’s all about resilience’

He was one of the ‘original ten’: right after completing his PhD at Delft University of Technology, Aytac Yilmaz received a grant in 2022 as part of the very first pilot cohort of the Faculty of Impact. Four years on, he leads Ore Energy, a promising start-up in the energy transition sector that now employs around sixty people. This summer, he raised an additional $43 million to build a battery factory.

Ore Energy’s technology tackles one of the biggest bottlenecks in the energy transition: multi-day energy storage. Wind can disappear for days, and lithium-ion batteries aren’t built for that timeframe, which means huge amounts of clean electricity go to waste. Ore Energy is building storage that keeps renewable power reliable, day and night. Their sustainable technology uses rust to store energy. The concept started out straightforward yet impactful: when the battery discharges, iron transforms into rust while absorbing oxygen from the air. When charged, external energy for instance from solar or wind, drives the reaction in reverse: the rust converts back into iron, storing the energy as the battery ‘breathed out’ oxygen. ‘Without multi-day storage, the energy transition stalls, the energy bills stay high, and Europe stays dependent on imported, expensive fossil fuel’, Aytac states.

Sometimes being an entrepreneur feels like you’re getting punched in your belly all the time, but you just have to keep going

Born in business
The start-up’s strides in recent years have been enormous. Aytac is, of course, proud of the progress, but he isn’t surprised. ‘Actually, things are going pretty much as we expected. If you’d asked me in 2022 where we’d be now, this is pretty much where I’d have said we’d be.’

It’s all happening so quickly, though, that he has to pause for a moment when we ask him what he’s taken away from his time at the Faculty. ‘What really helped me was the fact that there were entrepreneurs who shared their experiences with us from different perspectives. Whether it was about IP, legal issues or the commercial side of things: I found all their stories equally interesting.’

Whilst various Faculty fellows are hesitant about choosing between academia and entrepreneurship – and often see more appeal in a role as CTO than as CEO – Aytac has now made up his mind. ‘I did have those doubts for a short while, but I really like being the CEO. Perhaps it helps that I am from an entrepreneurial family; I was basically born in business. I approach my role from a technical perspective, though: I’m very hands-on with our technology. But at this stage, I don’t spend much more than 20 per cent of my time on the technology.’

More news to come
The news of the multi-million investment attracted a great deal of media attention this summer. Beyond that, Aytac is increasingly enjoying giving interviews and handling PR. He’s taken a more professional approach: whereas Ore Energy used to work with a freelancer, he now has a PR officer within his company.  ‘There’s still plenty of news to come in the near future,’ he says somewhat mysteriously. For example, he doesn’t yet want to reveal where the large battery production facility (‘one of the largest in Europe’), the purpose of his latest successful investment round, is to be built. ‘We’ll turn that into another PR moment in a few weeks’ time,’ he laughs. ‘Just like the news about new clients.’

I really like being the CEO. Perhaps it helps that I am from an entrepreneurial family

When asked for his most important advice for the incoming fellows at the Faculty of Impact, Aytac doesn’t have to think for long. ‘Technology matters, but not as much as you may think at this point. What really matters is resilience: just keep going. It’s a very difficult path. Sometimes being an entrepreneur feels like you’re getting punched in your belly all the time, but you just have to keep going. We’re obviously still at the beginning of where we want to go in the next twenty years. But I never doubt whether or not we are going to get there. Of course, it’s always difficult; there are always a lot of things to overcome, but I just never question if it’s going to work or not.’

It goes without saying that Faculty of Impact program leaders Frans Nauta and Bianca Oudshoff are just as delighted with the progress Aytac’s company is making. ‘This is exactly the kind of impact we hope our fellows go on to create. We’re proud to have had Aytac in our program. Congratulations, Aytac and team!’

Interested in Aytac’s journey? Read the interview he gave in 2024.