RIVE Private Investment, Creandum, Earlybird, Norrsken VC and Picus Capital are investing in terralayr AG to build the leading player in battery storage

• terralayr is a developer and owner-operator of battery storage assets with a current focus on the German market, offering a unique “energy flexibility as a service” platform.

• terralayr has secured development agreements for over 5GW, has its first asset operational and several assets in construction, and partners with RIVE to fund the delivery of its further pipeline.

• With the third transaction of its RIIF fund, RIVE positions itself alongside a leading player of Germany’s fast-growing storage market, in line with its strategy to champion entrepreneurs of the energy transition.

The global shift to renewable energy generation cannot happen without grid-scale battery storage to address the intermittency problem with renewables and provide flexibility to the market. At the same time, balancing energy supply and demand is becoming increasingly challenging given the skyrocketing power needs of AI and rapid build out of data centers.

Battery storage optimization is critical to maximize usage and safeguard returns for storage asset owners. Bain estimates that the market for grid-scale storage could expand from around $15bn in 2023 to between $200bn and $700 bn by 2030, and $1trn-3trn by 2040.

Established in 2022, terralayr is a developer, owner-operator and aggregator of battery storage assets in Germany, introducing an innovative approach to the market through its asset virtualization platform. Having identified a gap between the full economic value of battery storage and its conventional business model, terralayr offers “flexibility as a service” through its proprietary cloud-like software platform. Targeting players such as power producers, traders, grid operators and large power consumers such as data centers, terralayr offers flexibility services with durations from 15 minutes up to 15 years, allowing customers to gain all the benefits of grid-scale battery storage without the overhead of a physical asset. For grid-scale battery owners, this offers a new way to optimize capacity, generating higher and more stable returns. Just like Amazon Web Services (AWS) revolutionized access to computing power, terralayr aims to do the same for energy storage capacity.

By introducing a marketplace for energy storage and enabling flexibility on demand, terralayr aims to help overcome important hurdles to renewable energy and play a role in the drive to net zero.

terralayr already secured development agreements for over 5GW both through an in-house greenfield development team and through partners, and has acquired a first asset in May 2023, trlyr1, operating since then. The investment will accelerate the deployment of terralayr’s battery storage asset base.

This unique offering is backed by terralayr’s strong management team with long experience in the energy and renewables sector.

Pierre du Passage, Partner in charge of energy transition at RIVE:

“Battery storage stands out as a game-changer in mitigating the risks associated with renewable energy intermittency. With strong penetration of renewables leading to grid instability and negative prices, we had identified Germany as a strong candidate for the deployment of storage capacity. terralayr is ideally positioned in this market, combining its proven development capability and virtual aggregation expertise. We are proud to be a fast-mover in this field and look forward to collaborating with terralayr’s management team and fund their infrastructure roll-out.”

Johan Brenner, General Partner, Creandum:

“Battery storage is the next big opportunity in clean energy and terralayr brings a unique and innovative approach to solving some of the challenges that have been holding the market back. By smartly leveraging the experience of cloud computing, terralayr has the potential to be a game changer in this space.”

Dr. Hendrik Brandis, Partner & Co-founder, Earlybird:

“Everything revolving around energy is ripe for innovation; this is where Europe must lead the way. With renewable energy expansion, our grid faces a new balancing challenge requiring exponential flexibility. Terralayr is in the pole position to make a massive contribution by pioneering grid-scale battery storage."

Philipp Man, Founder and CEO of terralayr:

“In a net-zero world, energy storage is the key missing piece to drive the integration of all the renewable generation assets that are hitting the grid. Our positioning as a fully integrated storage aggregator enables us to unlock the fly-wheel from this future multi-trillion dollar asset class - delivering to customers such as data centers and utilities all the benefits of battery storage without the burden of the physical operation of assets. RIVE’s investment underscores our differentiated market positioning and will help us accelerate our roll out in Germany further.”


Featured in TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/ 

About terralayr

terralayr is a fully integrated energy flexibility provider. terralayr addresses the massive global need for energy storage by aggregating own as well as third party battery storage assets. A cloud-like software platform makes energy flexibility accessible "as-a-service" to many customer groups, including power producers, grid operators and large consumers of power such as data centers. terralayr develops and operates a portfolio of own battery storage assets, with currently one asset operational, several assets in construction and a total development pipeline of over 5GW in Germany. The company’s leadership team is composed of industry experts from companies like Limejump, RWE, Fluence, Next Kraftwerke and Pexapark.