California-based Element Energy has raised US$111 million in equity and debt financing for its proprietary battery management system (BMS) for first and second life battery storage.
The financing round is comprised of a US$73 million Series B equity investment and a $38 million debt facility provided by investor Keyframe Capital Partners.
Element Energy named Cohort Ventures, Drive Catalyst, FM Capital, AFW Partners and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) as new investors in the equity funding, alongside ‘one of the largest clean energy generation companies in the U.S’, which was not named.
They join existing investors LG Technology Ventures, the investment of the electronics and battery giant LG, utility Edison International, and investors Prelude Ventures and Radar Partners.
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The Series B investment is likely to be the same one the company announced back in December 2022, as it is led by the same companies, though the latest investment is nearly three times larger than originally announced (US$28 million). Energy-Storage.news has asked for clarity on this and will update this article if and when a response is received.
MHI is part of the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, and is the subsidiary which is also a large battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator through Mitsubishi Power Americas.
Element Energy has developed proprietary hardware and software algorithms, which it says are applicable to both first and second life BESS and improve visualisation, safety and efficiency. CEO Anthony Stratakos discussed this in more detail in an interview with Energy-Storage.news at the start of the year in which he explained how its BMS is the result of over a decade of research.
The technology is being validated with a 50MWh BESS project expected to be completed in 2024, at a wind farm operated by renewable energy developer and independent power producer (IPP) NextEra Energy Resources.
Element Energy says its BMS is not only for second life, and is working to deploy its software as a service for a battery operations and maintenance (O&M) provider and is considering its application for EV batteries too.
In May, Energy-Storage.news reported that the company’s 50MWh project – and over 2GWh of battery modules procured – was comprised of LG batteries recalled from electric vehicles (EVs) over the last few years. The company did not deny this at the time, saying only that it would never reveal the source of its batteries.
The fundraise is the second major announcement within the second life energy storage space this week, after B2U announced a 12MWh system comprising Honda EV batteries had gone online, also in California.
