US grid-scale thermal battery storage developer Fourth Power has successfully closed a Series A funding round, securing $19 million in funds led by venture capital firm DCVC and supported by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) and the Black Venture Capital Consortium.
The new capital injection will be utilized to scale Fourth Power's innovative technology and construct a 1 MWh-e prototype facility scheduled for completion outside Boston in 2026. The funding will also facilitate testing, further research, and expansion of the company's engineering team.
Fourth Power, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has pioneered a thermal battery system that converts excess renewable energy into extremely high-temperature heat using heating elements surpassing 2,000°C. The stored energy is retained in graphite blocks, and upon demand, the heat is transferred to the power block, converting the emitted light from the white-hot infrastructure back into electricity using thermophotovoltaics (TPV).
Asegun Henry, founder and CTO of Fourth Power, expressed gratitude for reaching this crucial milestone after more than a decade of research and development, acknowledging the funding partners who recognized the innovation and potential of Fourth Power's thermal battery technology.
