The frustration was simple: the technology to recover wasted energy from industrial machines has existed for years, but it never deployed at scale. Working with major manufacturers, I kept seeing the same pattern \u2014 enormous amounts of electricity being burned off as heat every time a machine decelerated, and solutions that were technically capable of capturing it but commercially impossible to justify. High upfront costs, months of disruption, expensive custom engineering. At historical electricity prices of \u00a350\/MWh, you could almost understand why businesses walked away. But as prices doubled to \u00a3100\u2013150\/MWh and net-zero commitments became binding, that calculus changed completely. IR Power grew out of an energy storage technology project inspired by research from the University of Reading, and together with Mike Wilson, we set about building something that could actually scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The core principle is shared risk. For too long, energy recovery technology put all the burden on the customer \u2014 capital expenditure, installation disruption, performance uncertainty. We’ve inverted that completely. If our system doesn’t save our customers money, we don’t get paid. That’s not just a commercial model; it’s a statement of intent. We believe that if you genuinely have a great solution, you should be willing to stand behind it. Alongside that, we’re committed to simplicity \u2014 standardised systems, plug-and-play installation, no modifications to existing equipment. Complexity has been the enemy of adoption in this space for too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vision is to eliminate industrial braking energy waste at scale \u2014 first across the UK, then globally. We’re starting deliberately, prioritising press applications across tier-one automotive and construction materials manufacturing. That diversity of sectors is intentional; we want to prove the technology across different operating conditions before we accelerate. The addressable market is thousands of suitable machines in the UK alone, across automotive, construction materials, food processing and beyond. Once the model is proven here, global expansion follows. Every deployment builds the evidence base that makes the next one easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Success is straightforward: customers saving money and cutting carbon, with IR Power growing because we earned it through performance. In the near term, our first commercial deployments launch in Q1 2026 with a major automotive and construction materials manufacturer \u2014 proving the technology in real operating environments is the critical first milestone. From there, it’s about scaling the deployment pipeline across sectors and demonstrating that this model works as reliably in food processing or heavy industry as it does on an automotive press line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our primary targets are manufacturers running large motor-driven machinery where heavy weights are constantly being lifted and lowered, moved and stopped, or where powerful forming equipment cycles repeatedly through its stroke – automotive and wider metal forming presses, conveyor systems, industrial mixers, cranes and hoists. These are the applications where braking energy is highest and most consistent. But we’re particularly excited about the breadth of sectors beyond automotive – metal forming more widely, construction and raw materials, and some genuinely interesting early leads in upstream food production. We meet their needs by removing every traditional barrier to adoption: zero upfront capital, installation in hours with no production downtime, and a rental model that sits as operating expenditure rather than capital. We also offer a complimentary, no-obligation site assessment so manufacturers can understand their specific opportunity before committing to anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The honest answer is that it’s the pace of industrial markets and getting meaningful airtime with the right end users. These are organisations with long decision cycles and full order books – breaking through takes patience. But when you do find the right people, the impact is remarkable. We’ve been fortunate to work with some real gems – forward-thinking manufacturers who immediately understood the value and have genuinely catapulted our commercial development forward. Those relationships have been transformative. The technology was never the hard part; finding the champions inside industry who move things forward is the real challenge, and the real reward when you find them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several things set us apart. Our systems are equipment-agnostic \u2014 unlike solutions locked to one manufacturer’s drives or motors, we integrate with any supplier’s equipment. That means factories can connect multiple machines into a single site-wide energy recovery network. Our fail-safe design is also distinctive: when braking energy exceeds system capacity, excess safely routes to existing waste resistors while the system keeps operating. Competitor systems often shut down completely when overloaded, requiring manual restarts \u2014 which is simply unacceptable in a production environment. And critically, the combination of zero upfront cost, hours-long installation, and a pure pay-from-savings model is, to my knowledge, unique in this space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our immediate focus is executing our first commercial deployments in Q1 2026 across automotive and construction materials manufacturing, building the evidence base we need to accelerate. But we’re also moving toward international expansion – we’ve identified high-energy-cost markets that make the economics of our solution particularly compelling – some closer to home in Northern Europe, and some further afield. The rental model travels well: wherever electricity is expensive and manufacturers are facing net-zero pressure, the business case is strong. We’re not waiting until we’ve saturated the UK market to start those conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, solve the commercial problem, not just the technical one. The technology to recover industrial energy has existed for years \u2014 it didn’t scale because the business model was broken. Before you build anything, understand every barrier between your solution and actual deployment, and design around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, align your incentives with your customers. Our rental model only works if customers save money. That alignment isn’t just good ethics \u2014 it’s good strategy. It forces you to build something that genuinely performs, and it builds trust faster than any sales pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third, be deliberate about where you start. We chose diverse sectors for our first deployments specifically to prove the technology across different operating conditions. Resist the temptation to chase volume too early. Depth of proof before breadth of scale.
You asked for three, but I’m going to give you four, because the last one is too important to leave out \u2013 and that\u2019s persistence. Every start-up demands it, but in industrial hardware it’s non-negotiable. The sales cycles are long, the decision-makers are hard to reach, and the path from prototype to commercial deployment is rarely straight. You must believe in what you’re building through all of that – because the companies that get there are almost always the ones that simply refused to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picture: Richard Bradshaw, founder & CEO of IR Power image courtesy of IR Power<\/p>\n\n\n\n