Homerun Resources Taps Jiri Skopek to Accelerate Commercialization of Enduring LDES Integrated with "The Hub" AI EMS
Homerun Energy USA, Inc., a 100% subsidiary of Homerun Resources, Inc. (OTCQB: HMRFF), has engaged Jiri Skopek as Corporate Development Advisor to drive the strategic commercialization of its Enduring Long Duration Energy Storage System (LDES). The system pairs silica-based thermal storage with purification processing and is integrated with Homerun's AI-driven Energy Management System, "The Hub."
This move follows an Intellectual Property Agreement with the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, operator of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and builds on two years of collaboration between Homerun and NREL.
Why this matters for management
Energy leaders are under pressure to decarbonize operations while maintaining reliability and cost control. Long-duration storage that serves both heat and power can materially reduce fuel costs, stabilize operations, and support microgrid strategies. Pairing storage with an AI EMS that works across devices and brands compresses deployment timelines and reduces integration risk.
- Operational efficiency: Thermal storage for process heat plus electricity balancing can trim peak demand and fuel spend.
- Resilience and control: Edge and cloud intelligence in "The Hub" improve forecasting, dispatch, and maintenance decisions.
- Revenue options: Enhanced visibility and control can enable services such as energy trading where regulations permit.
What Homerun is building
Enduring LDES: A dual-purpose, silica-based system for storing energy as heat and delivering it as process heat and/or power. Its integration with purification processing targets decarbonization of thermal loads and higher system-wide efficiency.
"The Hub" AI EMS: A multi-vendor, device-agnostic platform that optimizes energy capture, storage efficiency, and usage. With intelligence at the edge and in the cloud, it gives facilities teams the tools to monitor, control, and predict generation and load-improving performance and reducing cost and environmental impact.
Strategic fit: from AC-centric grids to digital DC and microgrids
Jiri Skopek co-authored "The Future is Direct: Shift to DC Power Systems" in the CleanTech Blueprint 2025, a global collaboration led by LG NOVA and the Coalition for Innovation. The thesis: as distributed resources grow, digital, DC-centric systems can improve efficiency, reliability, and renewable integration. That directly supports Homerun's model-enduring, sand-based storage plus AI-managed, distributed intelligence for microgrids and industrial campuses.
About Jiri Skopek
Skopek is an architect and smart community planner with three decades of leadership in sustainable development. As Managing Director of Sustainability at JLL, he advised on large-scale portfolio decarbonization and led analytics-driven, smart-building operations across federal properties.
What leaders should evaluate next
- Use cases: Identify high-temperature process heat, steam loads, or shiftable electrical demand where LDES can displace fossil fuels or shave peaks.
- Integration plan: Map "The Hub" to your current SCADA, BMS, PLCs, and DERs. Confirm protocol support, data flows, and cybersecurity posture.
- KPIs and economics: Model CAPEX/OPEX, thermal-to-load match, round-trip efficiency, avoided demand charges, and carbon abatement per dollar.
- Pilot design: Start with one site or line. Define success metrics, test dispatch algorithms, and validate maintenance and reliability assumptions.
- Market participation: Assess eligibility for demand response, capacity, or ancillary services. Where allowed, plan for energy trading workflows.
- Risk management: Address supply chain (silica and components), permitting, safety standards, and performance guarantees in contracts.
Company context
Homerun Resources is building a silica-centered platform across four verticals: Silica, Solar, Energy Storage, and Energy Solutions. The company references a high-purity, low-iron silica resource in Bahia, Brazil, and plans for a 1,000 tonne-per-day solar glass plant in Latin America, including antimony-free solar glass for next-generation PV.
In Energy Storage, Homerun is advancing long-duration, silica-based thermal systems. In Energy Solutions, the focus is AI-enabled management and turnkey electrification to reduce costs and optimize renewable generation for commercial and industrial customers.
Executive perspective
Homerun's leadership frames Skopek's appointment as a key step as the Enduring LDES moves from development to commercialization after the NREL IP agreement. Skopek highlights the convergence of materials, energy systems, and digital intelligence as a practical pathway for industrial and grid-scale applications.
Further reading
Note: Some statements above relate to future plans and outcomes and may be subject to change based on execution, regulatory conditions, and market factors.
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