Thursday, December 10, 2020

Swell Finds $450M Financing For Distributed Energy Storage Projects

Los Angeles-based Swell Energy, which is developing what it calls "virtual power plants" which combine solar power and battery storage to feed back energy into the grid, says it has raised $450M in a financing vehicle to help deploy its distributed energy storage systems. According to the company, the new financing came in partnership with a fund managed by the Infrastructure and Power strategy of Ares Management Corporation and Aligned Climate Capital. Swell says the new financing will go to construct four "virtual power plants" which will provide 200 MWh of distributed energy storage, paired with 100 MW of solar PV capability. The company offers up solar plus battery storage to consumers, who receive annual payments and $1000 off battery installation in exchange for tying into a utility's grid management efforts, according to the company.