Battery storage developer Lightshift Energy raises $100 million from Greenbacker

Utility-scale energy storage developer, Lightshift Energy (formerly Delorean Power) on Thursday (March 28) announced that it has raised $100 million from two Greenbacker Capital Management LLC (Greenbacker) affiliated investment vehicles.

The latest funding will be utilized by Lightshift Energy to strengthen its operational capacity and expand projects to meet the growing demand for integrated grid solutions.

"Greenbacker's expanded partnership with Lightshift Energy reaffirms our company's commitment to expediting the integration of sustainable energy across the United States," said Benjamin Baker, Head of Greenbacker's growth equity strategy.

"Lightshift is uniquely positioned to assist utilities in optimizing battery storage for their systems, meeting growing demand for grid resiliency, and integrating an increasingly complex power system with energy storage solutions."

The new funding builds upon Greenbacker's initial strategic equity investment in the company made in 2021.

As part of the latest fundraise, Lightshift Energy secured $20 million in growth equity from the first Greenbacker-affiliated firm which it plans to utilize for scaling its team, sales, and growth pipeline. The remaining $80 million in project capital secured from a second Greenbacker-affiliated firm will be used for the construction and operations of Lightshift's portfolio.

"Rapidly increasing electricity demand and the growing appetite for renewable energy are straining our legacy energy infrastructure and creating major supply, cost, and reliability challenges across the country. Our storage projects are purpose-built to address these challenges, helping our utility partners achieve major cost reductions while paving the way for reliable and sustainable growth," said Rory Jones, Managing Partner, and co-founder of Lightshift.

"Our unique approach to storage development and operations considers the full landscape of technical and economic challenges confronted by our partners and uses the flexibility of batteries for maximum impact."

Lightshift Energy has over 20 battery projects under contract to date and a geographically diverse pipeline of over 4,000MW in the U.S.