Cleantech company Peak Power has raised $35 million from a fund linked to a green investor to continue its growth in the U.S., hire more staff and further develop its software platform.

“Battery storage is a linchpin technology for decarbonizing the electricity sector. This funding will allow us to help even more businesses reach their economic and environmental targets,” Derek Lim Soo, Peak Power’s CEO and co-founder, said in a release.

The Toronto-based company offers an energy optimization software named Peak Synergy, as well as services for commercial real estate and industrial customers and energy storage project developers.

Peak Synergy helps to optimize battery storage, grid-interactive buildings and electric vehicles and turns them into virtual power plants.

Peak Power says it enables investors to receive higher returns.

“We’re enabling batteries, buildings and electric vehicles to become grid resources,” Imran Noorani, chief strategy officer and co-founder of Peak Power, said in a previous interview with SustainableBiz.

Details about the funding

The $35 million funding round was led by a fund affiliated with New York City-based Greenbacker Capital Management LLC, which provides growth capital and guidance for growth-stage clean energy companies.

Peak Power plans to accelerate expansion in the U.S., where it already operates in California, New York and Massachusetts; hire for “critical roles”; and continue developing its software.

Lim Soo said in an email to SustainableBiz that, "Greenbacker was specifically looking for a company like Peak Power that develops and  operates energy storage sites. Greenbacker shares our vision that the energy storage industry is going to have a great period of growth, and they believe we are well positioned and have the right team to make it a reality."

Ben Baker, managing director of Greenbacker, said in the release: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Peak Power. We have an aligned vision that energy storage is going to have a great period of growth, and that Peak Power has the right technology and the right people to be a big part of that.”

Baker said Peak Power brings “a wealth of expertise and experience in energy storage operations,” and impressed Greenbacker with its understanding of its customer base, energy markets and software development.

It is not the company’s first funding for growth in the U.S. Peak Power also received $6.8 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada to support the growth of its software and hire staff.

Peak Power has raised over $40 million to date from investors including this round, and $15 million in non-dilutive innovation funding, according to Lim Soo. 

Peak Synergy, virtual power plants and U.S. demand

Peak Synergy is an AI-powered software offering which converts energy assets such as electric vehicles and battery storage in commercial or industrial buildings into decentralized energy sources during peak hours.

It coordinates all of a building's energy assets to operate as a virtual power plant, aggregating assets outside of a centralized power plant to provide electricity and sell the energy back to the market.

A building can address electrical grid strain during times of high demand to tap into power from batteries rather than fossil fuels, which is how Peak Synergy operates in Ontario. This manages energy consumption from the grid and slashes greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the building owner, Peak Power says.

The software is utilized by over 13 million square feet of real estate with approximately 150 megawatt-hours of battery and electric vehicle capacity under contract or committed across North America, according to the company.

Lim Soo said there is high demand for energy storage in the U.S. powered by demand for distributed energy resources, government policies removing barriers for investment and more cost-effective technology.

He attributed the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act investment tax credit as a key driver for accelerating adoption of battery energy storage, as it lowers the costs of installing, owning and operating battery energy storage systems.

As for Peak Power's future, Lim Soo said, "We are expanding our operations throughout markets in the U.S. We will continue to grow our sales pipeline in CAISO (California Independent System Operator), ISO-NE (ISO New England), NYISO (New York Independent System Operator), and IESO (Independent Electricity System Operator) for 2023, and expand into new regions in the years following."

He continued: "The next regions are likely to be PJM (PJM Interconnection) and ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas). We also continue to develop the capabilities of our Peak Synergy software to meet the needs of the market."

EDITOR'S NOTE: SustainableBiz has updated the article with new details from CEO Derek Lim Soo. The company erred with the initial funding amount.