Renewable Energy Startups funded by Y Combinator (YC) 2026

The best grid connection is no grid connection. Voxel builds vertically integrated energy generation and storage systems for data centers that bypass utility connection delays. By leveraging the vast supply of second-life EV batteries and our novel DC microgrid architecture, Voxel generates datacenter power on site and drastically reduces system cost and time-to-power.

Astro finds and buys land for new renewable energy projects, secures grid connections at minimal cost, and sells these development-ready projects to larger energy companies. Founded by Alex Fuster, a former Citadel energy trader, Astro's AI models identify profitable grid connections that eliminate the surprise costs causing 80-90% of renewable projects to fail. With the U.S. needing 2,000 gigawatts of new power generation by 2035 for AI data centers and electrification, Astro unlocks development opportunities that traditional methods consistently miss.

Rewbi uses AI to optimize grid-connected battery storage. We generate revenue by charging when electricity is cheap and discharging when electricity is expensive. We rent battery storage for a fixed fee per month, and we earn 2x that fee in monthly revenue by dispatching the battery optimally. Today, power companies use human traders to manually track grid conditions and update the battery’s dispatch schedule. However batteries can adjust their power output 100x faster than traditional power generation (e.g. hydro, coal, nuclear, gas), with the ability to go from full-speed charging to full speed discharging in under a minute. Electricity prices change every 5 minutes, often by 300% or more. Our AI better tracks 100s of live inputs, and it makes decisions faster than a human operator (with lower overhead!), improving revenue 2x.

Vista designs, finances, installs, and manages energy storage and solar at commercial, industrial, and multifamily properties for $0 upfront, helping businesses save up to 30% on their energy bills. The founding team previously worked at SpaceX, Rocket Lab, NASA and Firefly.

Coperniq is workflow software for solar & energy contractors. It cuts soft cost per installation by $3K (17% of total cost) & accelerates project completion by 45 days (30% of project timeline). We replace Salesforce, spreadsheets, pencil-&-paper, & other hacky workarounds with an industry-specific application for the underserved energy workforce. Main benefits for our customers 1. Finish projects faster and cheaper: Our platform cuts 17% of soft costs, allowing contractors to deploy more projects, faster, and cheaper, with 5-star customer experience every time 2. Turn costly (often unprofitable) service calls into a revenue engine: By integrating with hardware OEMs (Enphase, SolarEdge, etc...), Coperniq gives you real-time health checks for your install base, automates service tickets, & drives referral revenue Coperniq does all this and much more in one beautiful platform! Are you or someone you know running or thinking about starting a solar company? [Schedule a call with us :)](https://calendly.com/coperniq-sales/discovery-web-v2 )

We offer no-money-down installations that generate free money for homeowners from day one. We are digitalizing the whole process of going solar. Instead of using traditional forms and leaving it up to customers to fill them, we use technology to take all that burden off our customers plate. We only ask for an address and offer free instant quotes.

Nira is a map tool, built for renewable energy developers, that shows available capacity at every interconnection point on the electrical grid. Customers like AES and Cypress Creek use Nira to find the most profitable points on the grid to site new projects.

Kitekraft systems consist of a tethered electric aircraft, a.k.a. a kite. The kite has 8 onboard (flying) wind turbines. It autonomously flies in figure eights and generates electrical energy from the wind. Our systems need 10x less construction materials compared to a conventional wind turbine and our systems cost half as much.

Solar power is the #1 source of new energy in the world. Raptor Maps is a fast-growing, MIT-born startup that builds software to manage the solar lifecycle. We are deployed across 45 countries and 200+ million solar panels. Our software enables the solar industry to scale. We're headquartered at Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech incubator in the US and also support fully remote employees.

At Zeitview, our goal is to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. We do this by combining advanced inspection software with the ability to capture visual data in more than 60 countries. This allows us to deliver safer, faster, lower-cost inspections of energy and infrastructure assets with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability. We use artificial intelligence and machine learning to ingest and analyze vast amounts of visual data to provide objective insights that our customers can act on immediately.

Kapacity.io is building the future of smart energy grids with an electricity Load Balancing service focused on buildings.