US energy demand is skyrocketing, the rise of AI and increased EV adoption meaning that electricity demand in the US is forecasted to grow as much as 20 percent by 2030. This represents a massive jump after a decade of flat growth – and as a result, electric utilities are almost doubling their forecasts for how much additional power they’ll need to produce by 2028.
Without access to affordable, reliable clean energy, the US will likely rely on gas-powered peaker plants or, even worse, keep old, polluting coal power plants running, undoing progress on reducing carbon emissions.
Renewables can produce great amounts of energy at extremely low cost under ideal conditions, but high variance in power generation renders them incapable of meeting 24-hour demand alone. Utility-scale storage with highly cost-effective technologies like sodium-ion is the only way for the US to reap the maximum benefits of clean energy sources to power the grid and avoid a disastrous return to fossil fuel-burning power plants.
“AI should represent a step forward, not a step backward” said Landon Mossburg, co-founder and CEO of Peak Energy. “As energy demand grows, we must capitalise on the potential of renewables to provide dependable, inexpensive energy to fuel a new era of technological advancement. Utility-scale storage powered by sodium-ion is the answer to securing this future on a resilient, decarbonised grid.”
Sodium-ion is a stable and proven battery chemistry that offers advantages in cost, supply chain security, scale, and safety over lithium-ion, the industry’s current default battery storage choice. With the shift to sodium-ion technology underway worldwide at giga-scale, Peak Energy has emerged as the company best suited to deliver utility-scale sodium-ion storage in the US. The Series A financing from Xora Innovation, Eclipse, TDK Ventures, and other new strategic investors marks a pivotal inflection point in the clean energy transition and secures the future of the US grid with domestically produced storage.
“The need for a new utility-scale storage standard is not a decade away, it’s right now” added Phil Inagaki, Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer at Xora Innovation. “Peak Energy has assembled a world-class team with unrivaled experience and reputation for delivering clean energy technology at scale, quickly. The timing for this market is exceptional, with Peak Energy poised to become a global leader in sodium-ion storage production and deployment. The team at Peak Energy has been moving at a truly exceptional pace, and Xora looks forward to supporting the company’s ambitious growth plans.”
As Peak Energy moves fast to industrialise sodium-ion, the company is already experiencing significant demand for its battery systems. With access to meaningful new capital, the company is entering the next phase of growth, launching the first full-scale production of sodium-ion storage in the US. Peak Energy’s sodium-ion batteries will be deployed to a select group of six premier customers participating in its pilot programme as early as next year. The roster includes three of the top five largest Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and electric utility companies in the country.
In addition to Xora Innovation, Peak Energy welcomes new strategic investors including global real estate developer, owner, operator and investor Tishman Speyer, venture capitalist Lachy Groom, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures and DETV-Scania Invest, and TechEnergy Ventures, CVC of Techint, one of the largest LATAM industrial groups. This collective of leading innovators across renewables, real estate development, and AI reflects Peak Energy’s wide-ranging capabilities to revolutionise clean energy for everything from powering commercial buildings in dense urban cities to supplying datacenters with abundant, low-cost energy needed to unlock the future of AI.
The latest investment comes on the heels of Peak Energy’s launch from stealth less than a year ago with a $10 million seed round and the addition of Apple and Tesla veteran Liam O’Connor as co-founder and COO. In addition to seeding full-scale deployments of its sodium-ion systems to pilot programme customers next year, Peak Energy is on track to break ground on building the first domestic, giga-scale sodium-ion battery factory slated to open in 2027.
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