Forget electric vehicles — stationary batteries are getting all the buzz and investment in the US these days.
Start Lunar Energy is the last example. The six-year-old company, which makes battery packs for homeowners in California, Georgia and Washington, said Wednesday it has closed two major rounds of funding. The startup shared that it raised a previously undisclosed $130 million Series C and $102 million Series D. The Series C was led by Activate Capital, while the Series D was led by B Capital and Prelude Ventures.
The startup plans to use the funds to scale production to 20,000 units by the end of this year before ramping up to 100,000 by the end of 2028. In total, Lunar has raised more than $500 million from investors.
Fixed storage has become a bright spot for politically battered battery makers after the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress gutted large parts of the inflation-reducing law that had incentivized companies to build batteries in the US to supply the auto industry.
As the grid strains under the weight of an increasingly electrified economy – along with exploding data center demand – grid-connected batteries have become one of the most versatile ways to boost its resilience.
Lunar can use its fleet of batteries, which come in 5-kilowatt-hour units between 15 kilowatt-hours and 30 kilowatt-hours, to deliver juice to the grid when needed. The virtual power plant (VPP) software can also control EV chargers and devices, allowing it to provide both electrons while reducing demand.
Such is VPP expected be able to replace costly and polluting peaking power plants within a few years.
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Competition in the field has intensified recently. In October, Base Power raised $1 billion, less than six months after raising $200 million for residential battery-based VPP. Tesla also operates its own Powerwall-based VPP.
Outside of residential contexts, Tesla’s storage business is growing by leaps and bounds, while ex-Tesla executive JB Straubel’s startup Redwood Materials has created its own energy storage division. Even Ford wants in on the action.
Batteries have gone from bit players just five years ago to major assets on the grid. Their modularity makes them quick to build and easy to deploy, and while they’re still expensive compared to some fossil fuel power sources, prices are falling fast. No wonder investors are piling in.
