Polar Night Energy builds ‘sand batteries’—insulated silos filled with sand and heat-transfer pipes that store surplus wind and solar energy as heat and convert electricity to heat when needed. The company plans to use a €7.6M seed round (about $8.2M) to grow its sales and R&D teams and to advance the technology's capabilities. Its system does not rely on exotic materials, can heat sand above 1,000°C, and can be constructed underground where space is constrained. Polar Night deployed its first sand battery in 2022 in the Vatajankoski district heating network in Kankaanpää, providing 100 kW of heating power and 8 MWh of capacity. The company has partnered with Finnish district heating company Loviisan Lämpö to build an industrial-scale battery in Pornainen that will be roughly 13 meters high and 15 meters wide and take a little over a year to construct and test. Once operational the Pornainen unit will store up to 100 MWh and provide 1 MW of heating power, supplying about a week of winter heat or nearly a month in summer.

Total raised

$8M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Apr 2024