Meet The Founder
Nate DeVault
Founder, Inventor, and Lead Engineer | RA Energy
Every idea starts with a question
Rather than accepting conventional solar panel designs, I wanted to understand why flat panels had become the standard, and whether geometry could be used to collect more energy throughout the day.
That single question led to years of sketches, calculations, CAD models, machining, soldering, and field testing.
Innovation rarely begins with certainty. It begins with curiosity.
Before RA Energy Existed
Before there was a company, there was simply a problem worth solving.
The sun moves continuously across the sky, yet most solar panels remain flat throughout the day. I wanted to understand whether changing the geometry of the panel itself could improve how sunlight was collected without introducing motors or tracking systems.
What began as an idea slowly became a research project, then a prototype, and eventually the foundation for RA Energy.
Test. Measure. Repeat.
Every prototype was compared against a conventional flat panel under the same conditions.
Some ideas produced little improvement.
Others revealed unexpected advantages.
Every measurement became another data point that informed the next design. Progress wasn’t driven by assumptions. It was driven by testing.
Built, One Cell at a Time
The earliest prototypes weren’t manufactured in a factory.
They were designed, soldered, assembled, and tested by hand.
Thousands of solder joints.
Hundreds of measurements.
Countless revisions.
Building each prototype from the ground up provided a deep understanding of how geometry, electrical design, and thermal behavior interact in ways that simulations alone cannot fully capture.
Engineering Through Experimentation
Every design started as a hypothesis.
Instead of relying solely on computer models, I built physical prototypes to validate each concept. Small hand-built arrays evolved into larger modular systems, while structural components were refined to improve thermal performance, simplify manufacturing, and support future scalability.
Every version answered one question while raising the next.
That’s how engineering progresses.
Still Building
RA Energy is not the result of a single breakthrough.
It’s the result of years spent asking better questions, collecting better data, and improving one prototype after another.
The work continues today with the same goal that started the journey.
To rethink how every square foot of available sunlight can be used more effectively.
About Nate
Nate DeVault is the founder of RA Energy. He studied physics, has spent years designing and testing solar prototypes by hand, and continues to develop new approaches to photovoltaic energy collection through engineering, experimentation, and prototype development.
Nate DeVault Founder, RA Energy