As summer rolls around, increasing energy demand could strain the power grid in parts of the country. With concerns over outages rising, more families are purchasing portable generators. A new alternative technology from Base Power is making waves for its next-generation whole-home battery backup system.
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Headquartered in Austin, TX, Zachary Dell and Justin Lopas founded Base in 2023. The battery storage startup operates by installing its batteries in homes and selling the energy generated to homeowners and the grid. The battery is charged directly from the grid during periods of low demand (i.e., off-peak hours, such as midnight to 4 a.m.) and discharged during periods of peak demand, such as summer evenings or early winter mornings. Base can keep its costs low precisely because it maintains ownership and control of the distributed battery system.
For an upfront fee of $595 and $225 a year (including all maintenance and support), customers can access the home energy service. The virtual power plant system can be installed in a matter of weeks, and Base notes that its technology is compatible with solar energy.
Base is a reliable alternative to home batteries, which can be expensive and often require solar pairing. Meanwhile, centralized grid-scale batteries take years to install due to their high energy capacities and numerous regulatory hurdles. Base Power offers a cost-effective solution that combines the best of both worlds, providing grid-connected dispatchable energy with reliable home backup power, all without the high costs and complexities associated with home battery ownership. In the near future, Base will offer homeowners the ability to connect a portable generator to their system, extending the availability of backup power for longer durations.
The company claims its battery storage solution is 10 to 20 percent more affordable than competing electricity suppliers.
“We install our batteries in our customers’ homes. When the grid is up and running, we use those batteries to support the power grid,” Base CEO Zach Dell said. “When the grid goes out, our customers get those batteries to back up their home. We’re also able to save our customers on the order of 10 to 20% a month on their electricity bills.”
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Base also claims it can protect its customers from 97 percent of power outages. One standard Base battery has a total energy storage capacity of 50 Kilowatt-hours, or approximately two to five times as powerful as a typical home battery (the Tesla Powerwall, for instance, can store up to 13.5 kWh of energy). This translates to a typical duration of 10 to 13 hours during normal energy consumption and up to 81 hours of backup during emergencies or weather-related outages.
To date, the company has raised $268 million in funding, with support from leading investors such as Thrive Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Addition. Base also serves Lennar, one of the nation’s most recognized homebuilders, and an investor. In roughly twenty Lennar outage-prone communities in the Lone Star State, Base installs batteries during construction.
Usage so far has been limited to Texas, but Base plans to expand its services to other states soon.
The company recently announced its first utility partnership with Bandera Electric Cooperative (BEC) in the Hill Country, a region near San Antonio.
As increasingly extreme weather events become the norm, companies like Base Power are making it easier for homeowners to access reliable, clean power at affordable rates.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
