Old Tesla batteries are given new opportunities thanks to Finnish energy storage startup Cactos, which recently raised $28.5 million in an investment round.
The company, founded in 2021, uses recycled Tesla batteries and new batteries to build smart electricity storage units, which allows customers to charge the units when energy prices are lower and sell electricity back to the grid during peak hours, per Business Insider Africa.Â
Cactos plans to use the latest cash injection provided by lead investors OP Finland Infrastructure LP and the Finnish Climate Fund to expand production to over 1,000 storage systems, as The Next Web reported.
As of December 2023, Cactos had installed 49 units but noted "there's a strong order book" as the world rapidly transitions to cleaner energy, according to the company's pitch deck on Business Insider.Â
The startup leases the finished battery storage systems to customers, who pay monthly over ten years. Once installed, they can power businesses and homes, charge numerous electric vehicles, or provide backup power in the case of an outage, per the news outlet.
"A typical use case would be to charge the unit from the grid during cheaper power prices at night, then discharge during the day to offset consumption from the grid during more expensive power prices," Cactos' founder and CEO Oskari Jaakkola told Tech Funding News.Â
Plus, the smart energy storage units can help balance supply and demand in the power grid.
"Each unit can be used for the benefit of the building where it is installed, for instance, in Load Shifting, Peak Shaving, or Back up power. All the units together can be used for the benefit of the whole transmission system, or grid, of the country by operating them together as a large virtual battery," Jaakkola added.Â
Cactos manages and operates the battery storage systems with the help of Cactos Spine, an automated software that gathers real-time information on electricity used and produced. That means customers don't have to worry about buying, storing, or selling back energy to the grid, per TFN.
According to the outlet, the systems are already installed at four major Finnish companies. Cactos' pitch deck revealed that the systems, called Cactos One, provide power for various client segments, including logistics, agriculture, government, industry, EV charging, and residential, hospitality, and medical companies.Â
Per TFN, the company's largest installation thus far is a 2.5-megawatt-hour system in a logistics center. Jaakkola told the outlet that that's enough energy to power a typical family home for nearly five months.Â
While the units will primarily benefit large companies by safeguarding them from fluctuations in the electricity market, the additional energy storage will increase grid resiliency, which helps all consumers, as detailed by TFN.
"As domestic electricity demand and highly weather-dependent renewable energy production increase, local infrastructure supporting clean electricity production will be a critical factor for the success of the future energy system," Toni Mikkonen, interim CEO of the Finnish Climate Fund, told The Next Web.
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