Equilibrium Energy Signs New Battery Tolls, Enters California, Celebrates Its Market-Leading Battery Management Performance, Welcomes New Executive Hires, and Closes Its Series B Fundraise
October 15 2024 - 12:00PM
Business Wire
Equilibrium Energy, a technology company building a
next-generation clean power company, today announced its market
entry into California; signing of new battery tolls with top tier
developer Ormat; closing of a $39M Series B venture fundraising led
by deep tech stalwart investor DCVC and including top tier
institutional investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Valo
Ventures; its market-leading battery management performance in
Texas; and the hiring of industry veterans to join its executive
ranks. The three-year old startup is combining the best of Silicon
Valley technology with its deep experience in running competitive
power companies to achieve its aim of accelerating society’s
transition to clean energy.
Equilibrium has continued the growth of its battery tolling
portfolio by adding two additional full offtake tolls with
renewable energy developer Ormat. Equilibrium will take over
operations of two 60 MW/120MWh Ormat projects in ERCOT in 2025.
Equilibrium also recently expanded into the California power
market with its signing of an offtake toll for a 40MW/40MWh
operating battery in July. Overall, Equilibrium now has 260MW /
380MWh of contracted battery tolls across ERCOT and CAISO. The
company continues to build out its operational portfolio via its
6GW and growing battery tolling pipeline.
EQ started operating its first grid-scale battery in Texas in
2023. In only six months, EQ has now topped the industry in its
ERCOT battery management performance for grid-scale 1-hour
batteries. In 2024, Equilibrium has earned more revenue per MW than
any other similarly sized grid-scale battery in Texas.
Equilibrium’s leading performance leverages its unique combination
of cutting edge software, ML techniques, grid fundamental modeling,
and its innovative flywheel and culture. Equilibrium is beginning
to work with other battery portfolio owners to leverage
Equilibrium’s management capabilities in their portfolios.
“We designed Equilibrium to navigate an increasingly volatile
electricity market and industry with the mission of putting a major
dent in carbon emissions,” said Ryan Hanley, Founder and CEO of
Equilibrium Energy. “We’ve only just started our journey, but we’ve
been thrilled to work so closely with an amazing set of inventors,
customers, and partners, each of which have impressive climate
fighting ambitions of their own.”
Equilibrium also today announced a new $39M Series B venture
funding round led by preeminent deep tech investor DCVC, which
included financing from new investor Valo Ventures as well as
existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and a prominent
university endowment. This new financing builds on the company’s
$30M Series A financing led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures in
2022, and will support the continued build out of Equilibrium’s
industry-leading power volatility management platform and growth of
its commercial businesses.
“As the power industry continues to transition to clean energy
in the face of climate change, we expect a new class of power
companies will be necessary to support society’s march towards net
zero,” said Rachel Slaybaugh, Partner at DCVC. “We are impressed
with Equilibrium’s first principles approach to building such a
next-generation power company, one designed from the ground up to
fight climate change. We’re optimistic about their prospects to
bend the climate curve, and excited about their impressive and
growing commercial traction.”
"The most valuable power companies in the future will be those
that deliver customers the lowest cost, most reliable and scalable
carbon free energy," said Scott Tierney, Managing Partner at Valo
Ventures. "The trajectory of electricity demand growth on the grid,
coupled by the exponential growth in renewable energy resources, is
creating unprecedented volatility, risk, and opportunity.
Equilibrium has built the most sophisticated technology platform to
orchestrate network-wide optimization of grid-scale flexible
resources to manage this volatility and enable corporate customers
and power company partners to confidently accelerate their
transition to low cost, carbon free energy."
With its Series B funding, Equilibrium is excited to welcome new
additions to its executive team. Kevin McEntee, former head of
engineering at Netflix, joins as Head of Engineering. Jeffrey
Woods, former Head of Strategy at JPMorgan Chase and CFO for Global
Investment Banking, joins as Head of Finance and Operations. Jace
Kohlmeier, former founder and head of Citadel’s high frequency
trading desk, joins as Head of Trading. Caitlin Walsh, former
Managing Director of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s Growth
Equity team, joins as Head of Capital Markets.
Looking forward, Equilibrium’s focus is on supporting its
battery developer and corporate partners’ efforts to tackle climate
change by achieving and exceeding their deployment and
sustainability goals.
About Equilibrium Energy
Equilibrium Energy is a technology company building a
next-generation clean power company. Its mission is to accelerate
society’s transition to climate and energy equilibriums. Founded in
2021, Equilibrium operates at the intersection of cutting-edge AI,
power systems fundamentals, modern software, novel commercial
structuring, and dynamic risk management across the power value
chain. Equilibrium is being built by experts with decades of
experience in energy, science, and software. Equilibrium thrives on
supporting its partners’ efforts to tackle climate change. For more
information, please visit www.equilibriumenergy.com.
About DCVC
DCVC is deep tech venture capital firm. For more than a dozen
years, the firm has backed brilliant entrepreneurs using
computational approaches to solve trillion-dollar problems in the
real world across a broad set of industries, especially those that
haven't seen material progress in decades. With billions of dollars
of assets under management, DCVC builds long-term relationships
with the founders it backs. The firm has been with many of its
companies from their very start — and through to their recognition
by the public markets as category-defining businesses. For more
information, please visit www.dcvc.com.
About Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Backed by many of the world’s top business leaders, BEV has
raised more than $2 billion in committed capital to support
cutting-edge companies that are leading the world to net-zero
emissions. BEV is a purpose-built investment firm that is seeking
to invest, launch and scale global companies that will eliminate
GHG emissions throughout the economy as soon as possible. BEV seeks
true breakthroughs and is committed to supporting these
entrepreneurs and companies by bringing to bear a unique
combination of technical, operational, market and policy
expertise.
BEV is a part of Breakthrough Energy, a network of investment
vehicles, philanthropic programs, policy advocacy and other
activities committed to scaling the technologies we need to reach
net-zero emissions by 2050. Visit www.breakthroughenergy.org to
learn more.
About Valo Ventures
Valo Ventures is a thesis-driven venture capital firm investing
in climate solutions in North America and Europe. Our mission is
investing for a brighter future, and we accomplish this by
investing in digitization, decarbonization, and adaptation. Valo
champions entrepreneurs applying innovative technologies to create
long-term economic and environmental value. Learn more at
www.valoventures.org.
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