Meet Scale Energy, the startup building Europe’s largest decentralized battery energy storage network

Scale Energy was only founded in January 2024, but its ambition quickly netted interest from high-profile investors. The fledgling startup’s mission, its CEO and co-founder Elias Aruna told ESS News, is all about accelerating the deployment of industrial battery storage and unlocking the “untapped potential of existing grid connections”. 

With fresh funding secured, it will proceed with its plan to build the biggest decentralized battery storage network in Europe. It claims that any industrial organization that has access to a grid connection of more than 1,000 kW can benefit its services.

Its business case is quite innovative; the customer supplies the grid connection, Scale Energy deploys the system without requiring any investment from the customer and then it shares the profit with the customer.

The company already has a project pipeline of more than 50 MW at more than 100 industrial sites, mainly in Germany and Austria, where it is most active at the moment.

Most recently, Scale Energy announced it had secured EUR 2 million in equity funding as part of an oversubscribed seed funding round led by early-stage climate technology investment firm, Climentum Capital.

Berlin venture capital firm Vireo Ventures also participated, together with Scale Energy’s existing shareholders, Antler and P3A.

The round also attracted several angel investors from the energy sector, including Dr. Christine Prauschke, former Chief Digital Officer at Enpal and CEO at leadity; Henning Gebhardt, former Global Head of Equities at DWS; and Thomas Rüschen, former Deutsche Bank senior executive. Frankfurt-based family office SKR Capital has come on board to offer industrial expertise.

Battery projects will be financed through a CapEx facility provided by a DACH based energy-focused infrastructure investor with a commitment for 100 MW.

Future expansion

Aruna told ESS News that the business’ focus will remain on Germany and Austria for the time being, but the team is eagerly eyeing opportunities in other European markets.

“The demand for industrial battery storage is growing rapidly, driven by high energy prices, grid volatility, and stricter decarbonization targets,” he said of Europe’s energy market.

“Our model is designed to be scalable across different markets, and we are currently assessing countries with strong industrial bases and favorable energy storage regulations. The long-term goal remains clear: to build Europe’s largest decentralized energy storage network.”

Aruna confirmed that Scale Energy has “already connected with leading utilities and other partners in Switzerland and the Netherlands”.

The funding, he said, will be used for identifying and securing new industrial sites for battery storage. It will also help the company grow its team to support its expansion, with Aruna particularly keen on building out commercial, technical, and regulatory functions.

Technical recruits may expect to assist in further developing Scale Energy’s proprietary industrial data engine, which optimizes battery dispatch by analyzing thousands of industrial electrical load profiles in real time.

Cutting costs for C&I customers

The team’s customers include aluminum manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and paper producers. Targeting industry is key to its strategy, and the company aims to help industry decarbonize while reducing energy costs and contributing to grid stability.

“By decentralizing storage, we enable industrial companies – who are the largest consumers of electricity – to become active participants in the energy transition, using their existing resources while at the same time creating a more stable and efficient power grid for everybody,” said Aruna.

“Decentralized storage is key to making the energy system more resilient, flexible, and efficient. By leveraging existing grid infrastructure at industrial sites, we can deploy battery storage without costly and time-consuming grid expansions.”

Decentralizing means customers can avoid delays associated with grid connections and most critically, they avoid high infrastructure CapEx needed for expanding the grid for large-scale BESS systems on greenfield land, Aruna explained.

Aruna and Scale Energy’s two other co-founders, Christoph Koessler and Nikolas Fendel, clearly know what their customers’ pain points are – energy security and energy cost.

For the former problem, the startup promises that decentralization offers businesses “actual protection from volatile electricity prices and grid disruptions” thanks to on-site measures to counter market and regulatory changes, according to Aruna.

As for costs, he said Scale Energy has a lease offer for unused grid capacity, meaning “industrial sites can monetize unused grid capacity, reducing overall energy costs”.