Long-term vision to Series A success — Arne Høeg

A founder’s journey: Two decades of R&D culminates in Series A

Closing the Series A funding is both a milestone and a moment for reflection. Enerin stands on the shoulders of an extraordinary community of engineers, researchers, founders and partners who have shared knowledge generously. Our CEO, a visionary inventor, talks about the two decades that led the team to this point.

“Looking back, I realise I have always been environmentally conscious.

Growing up, much of my time was spent at our family cabin in Norway, and I vividly remember the Alta protests in the early 1980s against a hydroelectric dam in Sámi territory. So, as an engineer, it felt natural and right to focus on creating environmentally friendly energy systems with minimal impact.

The First 3-kW Stirling mCHP: Design and Patenting Phase

As engine design manager at Sigma Elektroteknisk in the late 90s, I led a team that designed a 3-kilowatt gas-fired Stirling engine for a micro Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit. While the aim was to reduce fossil fuel use by co-generating electricity and heat to replace residential gas boilers, the era was marked by low energy prices and limited attention to emissions. But Scandinavian countries were starting to electrify their energy systems, so attention was starting to shift on improving the efficiency of fossil heating, also to support grid balancing. One CHP unit was field tested by Statoil (now Equinor), and one unit is still used in a university lab.

But even back then, it was clear to me that making a real impact on emissions would require decarbonising industry, not only the residential sector or space heating. I realised that optimising energy flows in factories mattered as much as the heat pump design itself. That insight has guided everything that followed.

The subsequent years involved a period of intensive designing, inventing and patenting systems at Adigo where I was partner and product manager. I designed all sorts of things from vending machines, medical equipment, and even machine visions systems for precision agriculture and sub-sea drones.

Inspired by inventor of the low-ΔT Stirling cycle

In around 2005, I reached out to Trond-Atle Asphjell, a fellow NTNU alumni and engineering acquaintance of mine. I needed more market information about space heating and industrial applications. Trond-Atle was working at Norway’s leading engineering, procurement and construction contractors, Energi & Miljøteknikk, where he was implementing heat pumps projects in the country.

At the time, I and an old colleague from Sigma Elektroteknisk, Ole Amund Myklebust, were working on the design of a Stirling heat pump application together. My original inspiration for the Stirling engine traces back to Prof Ivo Kolin of Zagreb, the inventor of the low-ΔT Stirling cycle, whom I had the privilege of meeting in the 1990s.  I became fascinated with the technology, and couldn’t let go of the idea of building a Stirling cycle engine suitable for an easy industrial integration.

Trond-Atle Asphjell joins me at Adigo, co-founds Single Phase Power

Enerin founding partners Arne Høeg and Trond-Atle Asphjell in the HoegTemp industrial heat pump container at GE Healthcare Lindesnes, Norway.

Within a year of having re-connected, Trond-Atle exited as partner from Energi & Miljøteknikk, and joined me at Adigo. From there, we established Single Phase Power (SPP) together in 2006. Our SPP Stirling engine design HighLift (clocking 30,000 hours real-world prototype testing) was built on the foundational work of Prof Per Lundqvist from Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Henrik Carlsen from The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and Allan J. Organ from the UK.

United Stirling team at Kockums submarines

Also fundamental to our development at SPP was the United Stirling team at Kockums in Gothenburg, Sweden. I especially mention Hans Göran Nelving, Christer Bratt, Torbjørn Lia, Hans Varverud and Daniel Nilsson who influenced the technology back then. SPP ran successfully for 10 years, but a change in the company’s direction resulted in the founding of Enerin AS in 2017.

Since its foundation, Enerin’s strategy has been centred on improving the energy use and emissions’ footprint in factories using our Thermonitor tool. The development of our current HoegTemp stirling cycle engine, with its patented technology, came shortly afterwards.

Those who helped shape our thinking

Many people have been integral to our thinking over the last eight years, and we have benefited enormously from collaborations with leading academics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Here I mention Prof Trygve Magne Eikevik and Prof Bjørn Haugen. Also, Assistant Professors Norbert Lümmen and Lars Magne Nerheim from the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), and Ass Prof Olav Aaker of Østfeld University College (HiOF).

We’ve had a lot of goodwill from Bergen Engines (BE), especially Thor Humerfelt and Reidar Tyssen, who have subsequently left BE. Also, I need to mention the current teams at the Institute of Energy Technology (IFE); SINTEF Energy Research, Ole Marius Moen; and KTH Division of Heat and Power, Assoc Prof Rafael Guedez and Assistant Prof Silvia Trevisan.

We are sincerely grateful to the public funding bodies and initiatives—Horizon Europe, CINEA, Eurostars, the Innovation Fund, the Research Council of Norway, Enova, Innovation Norway and Grønn Plattform—that together have enabled over €6 million in support, and to our international innovation partners and funding bodies from Scandinavia to New York.

Our team

Enerin is built not only by its founders but by a dedicated team of highly skilled energy engineers and support staff who have invested extensive hours of time. I am extremely grateful for the guidance of our experienced and steady Chair Raymond Carlsen (former CEO of Scatec), and CFO Henrik Ree Eriksen, who worked tirelessly with me to close the Series A funding.

I thank our new investors Climentum Capital, The Footprint Firm, Johnson Controls and Move Energy, PSV Hafnium and Momentum for believing in the potential of our technology to deliver reliable industrial solutions that will reduce reliance on fossil fuels. This has been my life’s goal and work until now, and I know that the strategic objective is within reach.

Our standardised, modular plug-and-play solution is well suited to industrial processes delivering energy savings and less emissions. With €8.4 million invested to date, and the additional €15 million Series A, we remain focused on transforming industrial energy use through intelligent thermal engineering.”

Enerin raises €15 million in Series A funding