Amber closed a new funding round for $78.5 million with the aim of accelerating its growth in Australia and expanding its residential energy management technology into new international markets.
The operation was led by 1GT, Morgan Stanley’s climate technology fund, with the participation of current investors such as Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF Partners), Innovation Victoria y E.ON according to the company, investment demand far exceeded the initial offering for the round, reflecting the growing interest in solutions related to distributed energy storage.
Furthermore, part of the capital obtained will allow the development of the next generation of Amber’s energy management platform, among its new capabilities, the integration of technology stands out vehicle-to-grid (V2G) which will allow the use of electric vehicle batteries as resources capable of exchanging energy with the electrical grid.
Amber promotes its home battery platform
Currently, Amber combines electricity trading with a digital platform designed to automate the operation of residential batteries. The system allows users to access real-time wholesale electricity prices, taking advantage of fluctuations in the market, electricity market in this way, the batteries can be charged when there is high availability of renewable generation and prices are lower, to later deliver energy during periods of higher demand and higher prices.
This model transforms the domestic batteries in manageable energy assets, capable of responding to electrical grid conditions while offering new economic opportunities for owners, according to the company, its platform currently manages more than half of the batteries installed in Australia. Amber avoids classifying its solution as a traditional virtual power plant and presents it instead as a residential energy automation platform aimed at optimizing consumption and storage.
Amber focuses on Europe
Furthermore, the new funding will allow Amber to deepen its international expansion, with a particular focus on the European market, which the company had already secured $45 million in a previous round led by ETF Partners. The new investment expands the resources allocated to adapting its Australian model to other markets with evolving electricity systems.
Amber it also has a technological presence in the United Kingdom through its collaboration with E.ON Next their platform serves as the foundation for Next Optimise, a solution that combines smart electricity pricing with home battery automation and electric vehicles. Chris Thompson, co-founder and co-CEO of Amber, emphasized that the collaboration with E.ON represents an opportunity to continue developing partnerships in Europe.
Our collaboration with E.ON is already demonstrating what is possible, and we are excited to build on this momentum with more partners across the region.
Thompson
V2G technology opens another avenue for managing energy
Amber will also use some of the new resources to promote capacity building in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) this technology allows an electric vehicle not only to consume electricity, but also to return some of the energy stored in its battery to the electrical system when needed.
Within Amber’s proposed model, users could utilize their vehicles as flexible energy units, storing electricity during off-peak hours and supplying it again during periods of high demand, the integration of electric vehicles would expand the platform’s reach beyond conventional residential storage, mobile batteries would become another manageable element within an increasingly distributed electricity grid.
Vikram Raju, head of climate private equity investments at Morgan Stanley Investment Management and 1GT, linked the investment to the global increase in demand for distributed energy solutions and smart storage.
With this new round of funding, Amber will have greater resources to integrate home batteries, electric vehicles, real-time electricity prices and V2G technology, while continuing its expansion strategy from Australia into new international markets.
Source: Renew Economy
Photo: Shutterstock
