Dive Brief:
- Energy storage company Stem has secured $100 million in financing for new projects utilizing its behind-the-meter storage systems.
- Support for the fund is being provided through affiliates of B Asset Manager, an investment adviser based in New York City.
- The first project to be funded through the new financing initiative will be a 1.1 MW installation in New York that is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2015.
Dive Insight:
A year ago, Stem announced it had secured $5 million to back installations of its storage technology in commercial and industrial facilities at no up-front cost to the customer. The model sounds a lot like the leasing model in the residential solar market, and installations there are booming. With Stem announced new financing of $100 million, it looks like the company is rapidly scaling up deployment.
The new financing is "a very big vehicle," Stem CEO John Carrington told Greentech Media. That much capital will keep the company busy for the next year as it looks to expand into new markets, he added. It currently operates in Hawaii and New York, two places where high electricity prices are making distributed energy resources an increasingly attractive alternative.
Stem's storage product works behind the meter and uses detailed data to lower demand charges. The company is focused on the commercial and industrial space and its storage product can bid into distributed response programs and capacity payment programs, helping the grid smooth peak load.
