Polar Night Energy, a Finnish thermal energy storage startup, has successfully secured €7.6 million (~$8.1 million) in a seed funding round. Jonathan Oppenheimer, a South African businessman, led this round, which was co-led by Finnish investment companies Stephen Industries, Holdix, and Turret and joined by a Swedish family-owned investment company, PC Rettig & Co. Impact. Existing investors also participated in the funding round.
With the new fund secured, the company plans to use it for several purposes, including expanding the R&D team to advance the capabilities of converting stored heat back to electricity and the sales team to serve customers better.
“I believe protecting our environment and climate is central to our survival as human beings and society. The environment we live in is under threat, and we need to find sustainable ways to thrive while preserving our planet. Polar Night Energy has the potential to be a part of the solution”, says Jonathan Oppenheimer.
The company uses sand as a storage medium in its thermal energy storage system, as sand is a cheap and abundant material that can be heated up to 1000°C and higher. Inside, there is a heat transfer system, which enables energy transportation to and from the storage. Insulation is provided between the storage and environment, ensuring a long storage period with minimal heat losses.
Recently, Polar Night Energy also announced a new industrial-scale Sand Battery project with Loviisan Lämpö, a Finnish district heating company, in addition to a partnership with Ilmatar, a Nordic energy company and independent power producer, aimed at storing surplus wind and solar energy in large-scale Sand Batteries.
According to Mercom’s Annual and Q4 2023 Funding and M&A Report for Storage & Smart Grid, Venture capital (VC/PE) funding in Energy Storage in 2023 was the highest ever recorded, increasing 59% year-over-year (YoY), with $9.2 billion in 86 deals compared to the $5.8 billion raised in 96 deals in 2022.
Recently, Antora Energy, a developer of thermal batteries, secured $150 million in Series B funding to help ramp up production. Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek, led the round.
