Lunar Power raises $232M to deploy dwelling batteries that prop up the grid

Neglect EVs — stationary batteries are getting all the thrill, and funding, within the U.S. nowadays.

Startup Lunar Power is the newest instance. The six-year-old firm, which builds battery packs for owners in California, Georgia, and Washington, mentioned Wednesday it has accomplished two giant funding rounds. The startup shared it raised a beforehand unannounced $130 million Sequence C and a $102 million Sequence D. The Sequence C was led by Activate Capital, whereas the Sequence D was led by B Capital and Prelude Ventures.

The startup plans to make use of the funds to scale manufacturing to twenty,000 items by the tip of this 12 months earlier than rampaging to 100,000 by the tip of 2028. In complete, Lunar has raised greater than $500 million from buyers.

Stationary storage has develop into a vivid spot for battery producers which were topic to coverage whiplash after the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress gutted giant elements of the Inflation Discount Act, which had incentivized firms to construct batteries within the U.S. to produce the automotive trade.

Because the grid strains underneath the burden of an more and more electrified economic system — together with the growth in information middle demand — grid-connected batteries have develop into probably the most versatile methods to spice up its resiliency.

Lunar can name on its fleet of batteries, which are available in 15 kilowatt-hour and 30 kilowatt-hour modules, to ship juice to the grid when wanted. It’s digital energy plant (VPP) software program can even management EV chargers and home equipment, permitting it to each provide electrons whereas tamping down demand.

Such VPPs are anticipated to have the ability to substitute expensive and polluting peaking energy crops in a matter of years.

Competitors within the house has been heating up these days. In October, Base Energy raised $1 billion, lower than six months after elevating a $200 million spherical for its residential battery-based VPP. Tesla operates its personal Powerwall-based VPP, too.

Exterior of residential settings, Tesla’s storage enterprise has been rising in leaps and bounds, whereas former Tesla govt J.B. Straubel’s startup Redwood Supplies has launched its personal power storage division. Even Ford needs in on the motion. 

Batteries have reworked from bit gamers simply 5 years in the past to main belongings on the grid. Their modularity makes them fast to construct and simple to deploy, and whereas they’re nonetheless expensive relative to some fossil gasoline energy sources, costs have been dropping rapidly. No marvel buyers are piling in.