Australian private investment and venture capital firm founded by Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, Grok Ventures has provided project-level financing as the sole external investor on a 5 GWh United States (US)-based thermal energy storage system.
Developed in Big Stone City, South Dakota, 300 kilometres (km) west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, adjacent to a biofuels plant owned by US biofuels giant POET and US energy storage company Antora Energy, Grok’s investment has enable the project to reach financial close and be commissioned.
It will provide POET with 50 MW of competively priced, around-the-clock energy under a long term heat offtake agreement, enabling the plant to increase its bioethanol production.
Image: POET
Grok Ventures Infrastructure and Private Equity Head Ridhaa Ahmed said Antora has built something genuinely compelling, a technology and a team capable of delivering affordable, reliable energy to American industry at real scale.
“Our conviction in the technology, the team, and the commercial fundamentals gave us the confidence to structure a financing solution befitting the project’s transformative nature,” Ahmed said.
“The commercial logic is strong, the opportunity consequential, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Antora as they scale this technology across America and the world.”
The project selectively and rapidly charges during periods of surplus local energy production, making use of existing grid infrastructure, offering a model to integrated thermal energy storage.
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