ESS is trying to solve a critical problem with renewable energy: How to store energy from wind and solar installations when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
The company’s proposed solution is long-duration energy-storage batteries made of iron, salt and water, which are much cheaper and more readily available than the elements used in batteries today, such as lithium and cobalt.ESS’ early momentum attracted $57 million in investments from powerful backers including Bill Gates and Softbank, CEO Eric Dresselhuys told CNBC.
Now it goes public via SPAC to begin trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GWH. It hopes to raise $308 million through the deal.
“There have been very few solutions for this long duration up until now, and it’s largely driven from the fact that we didn’t rely on energy storage as a major solution for hardening the system,” said Dresselhuys, who became the CEO of ESS this year after decades of energy and technology executive experience.
The company launched in 2011 in the Portland, Oregon, garage of co-founders Craig Evans and Julia Song, who are a married couple as well as business partners. It moved to the Portland State Business Accelerator before expanding to its current 200,000-square-foot headquarters - CNBC - link - Catherine Clifford - link - more like this - link
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