Base Power raises $1B to get big batteries into more homes

Base Power, a company that installs home batteries, just raised $1 billion, pushing its valuation to $13 billion. Instead of asking homeowners to buy a battery outright, which can cost more than $10,000, the company installs its own batteries for an upfront fee of $95 to $695 (the amount depends on location) plus an ongoing electricity subscription. In return, Base Power taps those batteries to send power back to the grid when demand is high, which is how it makes money. For homeowners, the appeal is backup power when the grid goes down and cheaper electricity on normal days, without the big upfront cost of buying a system.

The company has installed batteries at 17,000 homes so far, mostly in Texas and now also in Illinois. It's opened its own manufacturing line in Austin, Texas, replacing overseas suppliers, and plans to start using domestic battery cells by the end of the year. Its newest model, called Base Core, is more powerful than typical home batteries like the Tesla Powerwall — it can deliver 20 kilowatts of power at once and store nearly 40 kilowatt-hours, versus 5 kilowatts and 14 kilowatt-hours for a Powerwall. Customers can add more than one unit for even more storage.

The new funding will go toward hiring more installers and speeding up installations. Base Power currently operates under Texas's and Illinois's market rules, but it also partners directly with utilities in other states, meaning the model could eventually expand beyond those two states, though nothing has been confirmed elsewhere yet.