Fuergy, a Slovakia-based provider of energy storage and management solutions, has raised €16 million (US$17.4 million) from Pro Partners Holding, a local private equity firm.
The fundraise, announced yesterday (23 January), aims to transform Fuergy’s smart battery storage product ‘brAIn’ “into a new green investment product and make it more affordable for a broader group of customers,” according to the company.
brAIn is a behind-the-meter energy storage system for the commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors that Fuergy claims can increase on-site PV utilisation by 90% versus 50% for ‘basic battery storage’. It is available in Wall (4.8kWh/7.2kWh), Rack (12-33.6kWh), and Container (108kWh) models and is powered by lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery cells.
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Its energy management system (EMS) uses online data and AI-generated predictive analytics to control the systems.
Part of the funds will be used to expand its energy-as-a-service model, in which customers pay no upfront fee for installation, as well as to begin offering products in markets other than Slovakia, such as Poland and the Czech Republic. Fuergy will also increase its battery stockpile and cut the implementation time for system assembly in half, according to the company.
The company also intends to launch brAin for residential applications.
Pro Partners Holding is a private equity firm with approximately €1.5 billion in assets under management that invests in Central and East Europe (CEE), primarily in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Fuergy will also deploy its product across the country as part of the agreement.
Fuergy CEO Radoslav Stompf previously wrote a guest blog for Energy-Storage.news in which he spoke about the benefits of adding battery storage to on-site PV and EV charging facilities.
The two brAIn deployments the firm highlights on its brochure are a 432kWh system at an automotive factory in Námastevo which had a payback period of 1.7 years, and an 864kWh system at a textile factory in Humenné, with a capital payback period of 2.7 years. Both were commercialised under the energy-as-a-service model and paired with on-site PV.
The company said that it deployed the largest battery energy storage system in Slovakia back in 2020, another 432kWh system, for energy supplier G&E Trading. However, that was later eclipsed by a 5.3MW/2.9MWh system that Switzerland-headquartered firm Leclanché installed for frequency regulation at a medium voltage grid of a natural gas plant, owned by utility Veolia.
This story was adapted from Energy storage.
