Backyard batteries might sound like a niche solution, but Base Power is turning them into a grid-scale strategy. The Austin-based startup, which installs home batteries on a subscription basis, just closed another $1 billion round — its second in less than a year — to expand a model that's already deployed more than 500 megawatt-hours of storage. With electricity demand surging from AI data centers and electrification, the company is betting that distributed storage can outmaneuver traditional utility-scale projects. Main Developments Base Power announced its Series D round today, valuing the company at $13 billion post-money. The round was led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, and JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, with participation from a long list of investors including Altimeter, D1 Capital Partners, Sands Capital, Coatue, Layer Global, Energy Impact Partners, Thrive Capital, a16z, Lightspeed, Trust Ventures, and CapitalG. Deployment is accelerating. The company is currently installing roughly 100 batteries per day — about 8 megawatt-hours of storage — and aims to double that pace by year's end. That growth follows several years of building out a customer base across Texas and Illinois, where Base Power operates. Read also: ChatGPT Dominates Congressional AI Spending Alongside the funding, Base Power unveiled the Base Core, a new home battery manufactured at its Austin factory. The unit stores 39.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity — significantly more than competitors' offerings — and customers can opt for one or two units. The company says that capacity can power a typical home for a day or more during an outage. Subscription model disrupts upfront pricing Unlike most home battery installers that charge thousands of dollars upfront, Base Power uses a subscription model. In the Houston area, for example, customers pay $695 to install a single battery, $19 per month, and 13.1 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity — roughly the going rate in the region. Base Power retains ownership of the battery and sells stored electricity back to the grid during peak demand, a revenue stream that can pay handsomely. Background The U.S. electrical grid has expanded over the last several years after decades of stagnation, but the pace of new demand — driven by economywide electrification and the rapid construction of AI data centers — has strained many parts of the system. PJM, the nation's largest grid operator, has been particularly squeezed, and portions of Illinois where Base Power operates fall within its territory. Base Power's approach contrasts with conventional energy storage, which typically requires large tracts of land near major grid connections. By placing batteries in homes, the company can bypass some of the siting and interconnection delays that plague utility-scale projects. The strategy has attracted significant investor interest, with the latest round arriving less than a year after a previous $1 billion raise. Why It Matters Distributed storage offers a way to relieve grid strain without massive infrastructure projects. In regulated markets, Base Power works with utilities to place batteries in customers' homes to ease local congestion; in both regulated and deregulated markets, homeowners get backup power during blackouts. If the model scales as planned, it could reshape how utilities and startups think about grid resilience. The funding also signals growing investor confidence in behind-the-meter storage as a complement to utility-scale projects. With electricity demand expected to keep climbing, solutions that can be deployed quickly and close to load centers are becoming increasingly valuable. What's Next Base Power aims to double its installation rate to 200 batteries per day by the end of the year, which would add roughly 16 megawatt-hours of daily storage capacity. The company's expansion plans in Texas and Illinois will test whether its subscription model can win over more homeowners and utilities. Questions remain about how quickly the company can scale manufacturing and customer acquisition, and whether the economics of selling stored power back to the grid will hold as more storage comes online. The new capital gives Base Power a large runway to prove its model.