Base Power raises another $1B to save the grid using backyard batteries

Where most energy storage companies look for big tracts of land near large connections to the grid, Base Power is betting that it can beat them all by putting batteries in people’s backyards instead.

It appears to be paying off, with Base Power installing more than 500 megawatt-hours of storage over the past few years. The startup announced today that it has raised another $1 billion less than a year after its last billion-dollar round.

The Series D values the company at a $13 billion post-money valuation. Base Power is installing about 100 batteries per day, according to The Wall Street Journal report, and it hopes to double that by the end of the year. That works out to about 8 megawatt-hours of storage installed per day.

Base Power also rolled out a new version of its home battery today, called Base Core. The device is built at its Austin, Texas factory, and it can store 39.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity, significantly more than those of its competitors. Customers can choose either one or two batteries. Base Power operates in Texas and Illinois.

The round arrives as electricity demand has been skyrocketing due to economy-wide electrification and the rapid pace of AI data center construction.

Over the last several years, the U.S. electrical grid has expanded after decades of stagnation. The surge in demand has strained the grid in many locations, most notably PJM, which hosts a large number of data centers. Portions of Illinois, where Base Power operates, are part of PJM’s territory.

Rather than charge thousands of dollars up front, as most home battery installers do, Base Power offers its batteries the device on a subscription basis. In the Houston area, for example, Base Power charges customers $695 to install a single battery, $19 per month, and 13.1 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity, which is about the going rate in the region. Base Power, which owns the battery, sells stored electricity back to the grid during periods of high demand. Such services can pay handsomely.

In regulated markets, Base Power works with utilities to place batteries in customers’ homes to alleviate strain on the local grid. In both regulated and deregulated markets, homeowners can use the batteries to power their homes in case of blackouts. At nearly 40 kilowatt-hours, the batteries can provide backup power for a day or more.

The new round was led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group with participation from Altimeter, D1 Capital Partners, Sands Capital, Coatue, Layer Global, and Energy Impact Partners, Thrive Capital, a16z, Lightspeed, Trust Ventures, CapitalG, and others. Base Power was co-founded by Zach Dell, who serves as CEO. His father, Dell CEO Michael Dell, did not participate in the round.