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Energy storage startup Base Power began selling massive home battery systems to Illinois residents yesterday, Canary Media I mentioned. More importantly, it will be the startup’s first foray into the network area operated by PJM Interconnection, the largest US network operator by region, which privately owns He struggled to cope With the onslaught of new data centers.
Outside of Illinois, PJM’s territory includes Northern Virginia, one of the densest data center regions on the planet. This density, combined with a scarcity of new generation sources, has led to high wholesale electricity prices in PJM Nearly doubled over the past year. The energy crisis has worsened to the point that AEP, one of the region’s largest utilities, has threatened to leave the market.
Core strength It was launched two years ago in Texas to build a virtual power plant centered around residential batteries. Base’s batteries, which start at 25 kilowatt-hours, are larger than many of its competitors, and instead of selling the batteries, it asks customers to buy electricity from them. In Illinois, their rates are 25% lower than ComEd’s utility rates.
Startup timing was also impeccable. Base currently operates more than 500 megawatt-hours of battery storage in Texas, charging when electricity prices are cheap and sending it when the grid needs it most.
Its entry into the PJM grid comes at a time when the operator is under scrutiny for its botched handling of growing electricity demand. PJM has paused applications for new generation sources starting in 2022, reopening its waiting list only In April. And unlike Base, its timing couldn’t be worse, as electricity demand has skyrocketed in the past four years.
Base’s rollout has accelerated since October, when it announced $1 billion round led by Addition. That tour followed closely on the heels of A $200 million round Led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Valor Equity Partners in April 2025.
Historically, PJM has been slow to adopt new technologies like distributed energy storage, but Base’s residential focus is helping it make the final round around the hardened grid operator.
“We’re deploying power behind the meter in the residential home, where interconnection already exists, so we’re not waiting in an interconnection queue,” Zach Dell, founder and CEO of Base Power, told Canary Media.
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