Virtual power plant operator Voltus is acquiring energy storage startup Brightfield AI, as it looks to double down on offering speed-to-power for data centers in the wake of a “bring your own capacity” deal with Google last week.
The acquisition brings Brightfield’s tools for cutting soft costs and speeding up battery deployments directly to Voltus’ portfolio expansion efforts, at a time when hyperscalers are scrambling to secure near-term capacity anywhere they can find it.
Voltus will leverage Brightfield’s software to deploy batteries across thousands of buildings in the next few years, Voltus CEO Dana Guernesey told Latitude Media. The pair will first comb through Voltus’ existing portfolio, identifying sites that are primed to host batteries that can participate in Voltus’ BYOC program, before moving on to new customers. That strategy will prioritize PJM, where capacity constraints are particularly acute, and where VPP providers are already gearing up to participate in the forthcoming emergency backstop procurement this fall.
The goal behind the acquisition, Guernsey explained, is to increase deployment in the places, and on the timeframes demanded by the AI boom. While many hyperscalers are turning to fossil gas, there has also been a push for more renewables, and faster.
“The question [the energy sector is] getting asked is ‘how much more capacity can you build, and how quickly?’” she said. “In many ways, the only thing we can do is try to figure out how to accelerate deployment of fast, flexible, distributed capacity, which is one of the only solutions to the speed-to-power problem that we have right now.”
That’s where Brightfield comes in. “We need to create a lot more capacity on the existing electric grid to serve loads over the next three to five years,” said founder Tim Hade, who formerly founded Scale Microgrids. “That basically means we need to put batteries in as many places as we can as quickly as possible.”
Brightfield’s core product is an AI-based development tool that reduces the amount of time it takes to move from first customer conversation to a full battery proposal at a commercial or industrial site; the status quo is six to eight weeks. The software can either ingest interval data if it’s available (which Voltus already holds for many of its demand response customers) or forecast the data where not available. That allows Brightfield to generate a load profile for a facility, size a battery, and determine project costs, creating a development proposal in minutes, Hade explained.
Founded last year, the company initially targeted commercial real estate companies, using a consulting model to help them identify strong candidates for storage projects within portfolios and evaluate financing options.
Now, Brightfield’s tool will effectively become a Voltus capability, integrated into its platform and partner network. While Brightfield will continue supporting its existing customers, Hade confirmed, all new customers will be channeled through the Voltus platform.
Supercharging BYOC
Voltus launched its BYOC program for data centers last fall, as concerns about national electricity prices, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region, ramped up. As part of that program, hyperscalers commit to financing a VPP in a region where they’re building a data center; Voltus then procures a portfolio of resources, and brings those megawatts to utilities.
Last week, Voltus announced it is procuring up to 100 megawatts of capacity in PJM over the next three years for Google — its first named BYOC customer.
The framework leverages bilateral deals between hyperscalers and capacity providers. At the behest of the White House and all 13 governors in the region, PJM will host a one-time auction this fall designed specifically to procure capacity for data centers. The unique design of that auction will facilitate bilateral agreements between new generation and hyperscale offtakers.Voltus has been instrumental in the design process for that auction, which could incentivize the use of distributed capacity in the region.
The Brightfield acquisition and Voltus’ existing BYOC strategy are “yin and yang nesting strategies,” Guernsey explained. BYOC provides a long-term fixed price signal for projects, while leveraging Brightfield’s tools are designed to bring down soft costs and accelerate timelines so that more of those projects can be built quickly.
“It makes the math [of new storage projects] bank better…and brings more megawatts online in a timeline that we need to meet the moment that we’re in,” she added.
