Base Power Expands into Georgia with 50-MW Residential Battery Network

Base Power is expanding into the Georgia regulated utility market with a 50-MW deployment of residential battery storage. The partnership with Central Georgia Electric Membership Corp. represents the distributed energy developer's first such agreement outside its original Texas launch market.

This 50-MW deployment marks Base Power’s first partnership in a regulated utility market. The member-owned rural electric cooperative, Central Georgia EMC, plans to begin deploying the small-scale, customer-sited energy storage in 2027. Base Power will install and maintain residential backup batteries at little or no direct cost to homeowners outside co-op members' homes and handle all service and maintenance.

Cooperative model enables cost-effective grid resilience

Member-owned rural electric cooperatives like Central Georgia EMC have strong incentives to minimize wholesale power costs and avoid expensive system investments. The batteries will form a networked fleet that the utility can dispatch 24/7 to support the grid. George Weaver, Central Georgia EMC's president and CEO, stated the partnership is a win for members and the grid.

Each 39.2-kWh battery can provide up to 36 hours of backup power during outages for a residential home. Members can secure this automatic, whole-home backup for a one-time $95 fee with no monthly charges. They are billed only for the actual energy their home uses at normal Central Georgia EMC rates. Base Power retains ownership of the battery fleet, bypassing expensive hardware sales to consumers.

Networked storage addresses grid congestion and large-load growth

The deployment will add capacity to a system facing substantial large-load growth, including a proposed 240-MW Equinix data center campus near Hampton. Distributed battery energy storage systems can alleviate distribution grid congestion, boost local resilience, and allow utilities to defer costly grid upgrades.

Base Power's batteries are charged when wholesale power prices and members’ energy demand are low and discharged during peak demand. This partnership expands Base Power's utility network to over 750 MWh of capacity spread across more than 30,000 homes in the United States.

Financial model benefits members and utility

The financial structure is designed to benefit both the cooperative's members and the utility's balance sheet. By owning the fleet, Base Power assumes the hardware cost, while the utility avoids capital expenditure on grid upgrades. The model aligns with rural utilities' drive for cost-effective grid resilience.

Base Power operates as a retail energy choice provider in Texas and the Illinois zone of the PJM Interconnection, and as a direct partner for public power entities in parts of Texas. The company closed a $1 billion Series D funding round in August 2023, which brought its valuation to $13 billion. Its battery technology uses lithium iron phosphate cell chemistry, and it is scaling production at its Austin, Texas factory, known as Base Factory 1.

Central Georgia EMC serves over 69,000 billed accounts across 16 Georgia counties. Base Power will begin installing batteries in 2027 outside co-op members' homes and handle all service and maintenance.