Utah Business proudly presents this year’s cohort of our Leaders of the Year award. These 12 honorees represent accomplishments of Utah’s business community in 2024 and were selected by the Utah Business editorial team.
Nate Walkingshaw
Founder & CEO | Torus
For Nate Walkingshaw, who ventured into the energy sector as an outsider, becoming an expert has been a lesson in humility. In 2021, he and his partners launched a renewable energy company called Torus. With youthful exuberance and naivete, they imagined they could solve problems better and faster than large, traditional utility companies. However, as they delved deeper into their mission, they began learning about “the machine that is the grid” and the complex challenges it presents.
“It has been nothing but a full-time education — a master’s degree in just how much [seasoned professionals] could advance us,” Walkingshaw says. “Large-scale utility has done nothing but absolutely educate me and humble me.”
Throughout his career, Walkingshaw has been guided by an innate curiosity and knack for making sense of new challenges. His path has zig-zagged through unrelated industries, and he’s brought a relentless pursuit of knowledge and an outsider’s perspective to each role. “All your answers live in questions,” he emphasizes. Now, in the energy space, he’s using that same mindset to push Torus to the forefront of innovation — learning the industry’s intricacies and challenging norms with fresh eyes and bold ideas.
In October, Time recognized the Torus Nova Spin “mechanical battery” as a top invention of 2024. Walkingshaw jumps at the opportunity to rattle off “cool fun facts” about the flywheel technology utilized by the Nova Spin: 95 percent recyclable, tolerant to ambient temperature, has no memory loss relative to chemical batteries and, in his opinion, one of the best devices to assist the grid.
Flywheels exist as uninterrupted power supplies in many use cases — from Formula One race car launch control to nuclear missile silo deployment — but they have not been used for a long-duration energy storage device like the Torus Nova Spin. It’s an idea that came to Walkingshaw while working on his family’s conifer farm.
“Trees require a ton of water to harvest, and we have deep water wells, and we have a lot of low pressure,” he says. “It’s really expensive to run deep water wells all of the time. And so I actually created an in-line, high-pressure hydro turbine first, so I could always generate enough power. The issue was, I could never store it.”
This personal experience led Walkingshaw to search for a more reliable and durable energy storage solution, ultimately resulting in the invention of Torus’ mechanical flywheel system.
Walkingshaw established Torus in Utah, believing it the best place to attract and retain talent and to build a manufacturing base. It’s a place where innovation feels right at home, thanks to a supportive entrepreneurial mindset. “I would love to build a Fortune 100 company in Utah,” he says. “Not have it move here — but build it and then employ and teach and educate and truly build innovation.” He’d also love to build Torus big enough that it’s a direct competitor to Tesla’s energy storage division.
Most of all, Walkingshaw dreams of creating a legacy — for his four sons, for the generations to come and for the planet. While Torus continues to grow, Walkingshaw remains grounded by the same principles that started his journey: empathy, community and a tireless drive to solve problems. For him, it’s not just about technology; it’s about making a meaningful impact, one flywheel at a time.
