Voltus raises $225 million to scale BYOC for data centers

Voltus, a company that manages "virtual power plants" — networks of batteries, solar systems, and other distributed energy that can be called on to support the grid — has raised $225 million to grow its business. The money, a Series D round, was co-led by Generation Investment Management, Activate Capital, and Vitol, and is the company's first raise since 2021.

Most of this growth is aimed at data centers, which use huge amounts of electricity. Voltus lets data centers pay for batteries and other flexible power sources in the communities around them, then count that capacity toward their own power needs. Google became its first customer under this program, called "bring your own capacity," in June. Voltus also bought a battery storage startup, Brightfield, and struck partnerships with Octopus Energy U.S. and Sunrun, the residential solar company.

That Sunrun partnership is the part most likely to touch homeowners, since it signals Voltus expanding from commercial and industrial customers into homes with solar panels and batteries. If your utility or solar installer already works with a virtual power plant program, deals like this could mean more opportunities to get paid for letting your battery or solar system support the grid at peak times. The company's goal is to manage 20 gigawatts of power by 2030, more than double what it has now, largely by adding batteries to existing sites already enrolled in these programs. No new homeowner programs or rebates were announced alongside this funding round.