Emerging Opportunities
Adjacent applications where the thermoelectric platform fits a real need – pursued through partners and pilots rather than direct MicroPower deployment
What This Page Is
Three adjacencies that matter to the right partner, but are not flagship sectors for MicroPower in 2026
MicroPower's current go-to-market is concentrated in four flagship sectors – industrial waste heat, bioenergy, AI datacentres and thermal storage discharge. Those are where the proof points, partner relationships and near-term revenue sit.
The three applications on this page are adjacencies. Each has a credible technical fit, a clear customer need, and at least one in-house white paper. None of them is a place MicroPower expects to deploy direct capital in 2026. They are presented here to be transparent with partners who read the platform and ask, reasonably, "what else does this do?"
Engagement on these is partner-led: we are open to pilots, licensing conversations, and co-development – we do not plan to build the end product ourselves.
1. Pyrolysis & Bio-Waste Thermal Recovery
Closing the energy loop on organic-waste conversion – sibling to, not a substitute for, flagship bioenergy
What It Is
Pyrolysis thermally decomposes organic feedstock – agricultural residue, forestry waste, municipal organics, plastics – in low-oxygen conditions to produce biochar, bio-oil and syngas. The process runs at 400–900°C, and the exhaust and reactor-wall temperatures sit squarely in the band where thermoelectric materials work well.
A PowerRing-class module on a pyrolysis reactor exhaust turns a portion of that otherwise-rejected heat into electricity the facility can use for its own auxiliary loads – feed conveyors, blowers, controls, condensers. This turns a net-energy-consuming site into a closer-to-net-zero one without redesigning the reactor.
Where MicroPower Fits
- Temperature match: 400–900°C is the heart of the PbTe working band.
- Retrofit path: No reactor change; TEG wraps the exhaust duct.
- Scale fit: Small-to-mid facilities (tens of tonnes per day) are below Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) economics – the same sub-1 MWe gap MicroPower serves in biogas.
- Partner-led: OSPRE-type pyrolysis OEMs and regional waste-to-energy developers are the right counterparties. MicroPower is the module and conversion layer; they are the reactor and site.
Relationship to flagship bioenergy: Bioenergy & Biogas (WP-C) is our funded sector – anaerobic digestion CHP and biomass boiler exhaust. Pyrolysis is a sibling sector with overlapping physics. A partner with a pyrolysis reactor fleet is a direct conversation; we are not taking pyrolysis to market on our own.
2. Solid-State Cryogenic Cooling
Precision low-temperature environments without liquid nitrogen – a cooling-mode adjacency at the deep-cold end of the platform
The Need
Biological sample storage, gene therapy workflows, cord-blood and reproductive-medicine banking, and certain quantum and sensor research programmes all rely on holding contents below −150°C. Today that means liquid nitrogen: consumable supply chains, handling hazards, boil-off losses, vibration from pumps and compressors, and a significant ongoing opex line.
A solid-state alternative — no consumables, no moving parts, low vibration, electronic fine control — is of clear interest to operators, particularly in facilities where LN2 logistics or vibration sensitivity are the binding constraint.
Where MicroPower Fits
- Cooling-mode use of the same platform: MicroPower's thermoelectric modules run the Peltier cycle in reverse — the same device that generates electricity from heat can move heat away from a cold face.
- Stacked cascade architecture: Reaching cryogenic depth from ambient requires multi-stage cooling. MicroPower's materials stack has the properties cascade designers look for at the colder stages.
- Research partnerships, not product: Turning a stage into a finished biomedical-grade freezer is the partner's work — regulatory path, service model, user interface, reliability testing. MicroPower supplies the solid-state core and co-develops.
Relationship to bioenergetics: Bioenergetics & Synbio is the platform's other precision-cooling track – thermal management inside bioreactors, typically between ambient and around 42°C. Both are emerging, partner-led opportunities; cryogenic cooling is the same platform pushed down to very low temperatures. Different customer, different regulatory environment, same physics.
3. Dual-Mode Power & Cooling Deployments
One platform, both directions — a capability view rather than a sector
MicroPower's underlying platform is inherently reversible. A PbTe or TAGS module generates electricity when you put a temperature gradient across it, and moves heat when you put a current through it. The same physical device supports both — the mode is a control-software decision, not a hardware swap.
For most customers that is just a footnote: they need power generation, or they need cooling. But for a small number of applications the dual capability is itself the value:
- Defence portable systems: A soldier-portable unit that runs off stove heat during the day and cools electronics or medical payload at night, using one module.
- Remote & off-grid scientific equipment: Instruments in weather-station, oceanographic or field-biology deployments that alternate between generating from ambient ΔT and cooling sensitive samples.
- Integrated industrial process control: Equipment that needs to dump heat during operation and harvest the rejected energy back as auxiliary electricity — a single solid-state block on the same boundary.
This is a platform capability rather than a go-to-market sector. We describe it here because partners reviewing the technology frequently ask about it, and because it underpins the defence and humanitarian / off-grid conversations we do actively support.
How Engagement Works on an Emerging Application
Partner-led. Structured. Honest about what we will and will not fund ourselves
- You bring: the end product, the regulatory path, the customer relationships, the integration engineering.
- MicroPower brings: modules at an agreed specification, the dual-mode device architecture, the materials stack, technical support through pilot, and — where it applies — licensing of the relevant patent rights.
- Structure: NDA first, a short scoping document second, then a pilot or co-development agreement sized to the opportunity.
- What we will not do: commit MicroPower capital to taking one of these to market ahead of the flagship sectors. There are only so many hours in the company and the flagship roadmap comes first.
If one of these three is close enough to your business that the maths could work, start a conversation and we will tell you honestly whether we can support a real pilot in the next twelve months.
Related Sectors
Bioenergy & Biogas
CHP engine exhaust recovery for sub-1 MW anaerobic digestion and biomass sites — the funded sibling of the pyrolysis adjacency above.
Bioenergetics & Synbio
Precision bioreactor thermal management – the precision-cooling sibling of the cryogenic adjacency above.
Defence & Portable Power
Soldier-portable and tactical deployments that make active use of the dual-mode platform capability.