23,000 batteries in backyards: $13B Base Power tackles AI-driven grid strain

When Winter Storm Uri collapsed the Texas grid in 2021, killing over 200 people, the vulnerability of centralized power systems became deadly clear. Now, as artificial intelligence data centers push U.S. electricity demand to record levels, a startup co-founded by Michael Dell’s son is betting that thousands of backyard batteries can prevent the next catastrophic failure—and accelerate the clean energy transition at the same time.

Base Power, a three-year-old energy startup co-founded by Zach Dell—son of Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell—has secured $1 billion in new funding, catapulting its valuation to $13 billion and signaling a pivotal shift in how residential energy storage can alleviate grid strain. The company, which acts as both a battery installer and a retail electricity provider, has already placed more than 23,000 batteries in backyards across Texas and parts of Chicago, adding roughly 100 installations each day. This $1 billion round, led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group, brings Base Power’s total capital raised to over $2.5 billion, according to details first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

“

This $1 billion round, led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group, brings Base Power’s total capital raised to over $2.5 billion, according to details first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The backdrop to this rapid expansion is a U.S. electricity grid groaning under record demand, driven in large part by the explosive growth of artificial intelligence data centers. In 2025, nationwide electricity consumption hit all-time highs, and projections show the curve steepening. Texas, Base Power’s primary market, epitomizes the problem: its isolated grid faced catastrophic failure during the February 2021 winter storm, leaving millions without power and causing over 200 deaths. Base Power’s model inserts thousands of distributed, weather-resilient batteries—each about the size of an air conditioning compressor—directly into residential properties, where they sit near the electric meter. The company can sell stored energy back to the grid during peak demand, acting as a virtual peaker plant that stabilizes load without building new centralized infrastructure.

This distributed approach addresses two converging risks for utilities: the intermittency of renewable generation and the surging, non-negotiable power appetite of AI workloads. By aggregating home batteries into a dispatchable virtual power plant, Base Power creates a dual revenue stream—selling electricity to the grid and offering backup power to homeowners during outages. The company’s pace of deployment, at 100 installations per day with plans to double that by year-end, suggests it is rapidly scaling a hardware-and-software business that combines logistics, permitting, and grid interconnection expertise with a digital energy-trading platform.

Crucially, Michael Dell is not an investor in his son’s venture, which distances Base Power from the perception of a privileged launch. Zach Dell and co-founder Justin Lopas have instead attracted heavyweight financial and strategic backers, with JPMorganChase’s involvement hinting at the potential for asset securitization or large-scale project finance as the battery fleet grows. The total $2.5 billion fundraising—significantly more than the $1 billion headline round—points to earlier equity and perhaps debt facilities that built the installation engine before this latest equity infusion.