TDK Ventures Sees Tremendous Investment Value in Both Grid-Scale Energy Storage and Advanced Fusion Energy Technologies.
Innovation is crucial to continue developing new technologies that will provide clean energy without emitting more greenhouse gases. TDK Ventures firmly believes that there is enormous global demand for both grid-scale energy storage and advanced fusion-energy technologies. That belief has led the corporate venture investment arm of TDK Corporation to invest in and support two highly innovative companies in these fields: Peak Energy and Type One Energy.
Peak Energy – Sodium Ion Batteries: Alternative Battery-Storage Technology
The grid itself is getting harder to decarbonize because the load on it has increased as more and more EV cars enter the market. Additionally, the AI boom is making it even harder. All that extra demand on the grid is starting to make grid-operators keep fossil-fueled peaker power plants online longer.
Peak Energy’s goal is to develop alternative grid-scale battery-storage technologies that are just as good or better than lithium ion, which is constrained due to supply-chain issues. The company has based its technology on sodium ion, as it builds giant grid-scale batteries, storing the energy when the sun is shining and discharging the energy at night, when cars are charging.
Sodium ion is a best-fit technology for this realm. Sodium is the 10th-most used inorganic material in the world. The U.S. has massive natural deposits of soda ash, which is the precursor material for sodium-ion batteries. And it may be synthesized very inexpensively by virtually anybody, anywhere in the world.
“We expect Peak Energy to achieve large-scale gigafactory production of sodium-ion batteries in the US,” said Tina Tosukhowong, a TDK Ventures Investment Director. “We think they have an excellent shot at ensuring the grid resiliency necessary for US energy storage.”
Type One Energy – Fusion Power Plants
The process of fusion is combining the lightest and most common atom in the universe, hydrogen, to make helium to produce clean energy. Type One Energy was launched with one very specific mission: develop and design the world’s first fusion pilot power plant.
The type of fusion energy the company is pursuing is called stellarator fusion. It has created a magnetic cage into which it places hydrogen atoms that are heated to the temperature of the inside of a star. The result is intrinsically produced clean energy with absolutely no carbon emissions and that can be integrated into the world’s energy system in a unique fashion.
The fact that water is the fuel source for fusion energy allows it to uniquely solve the world’s energy-security challenge in providing a complete solution set for energy transition for a more sustainable future.
“TDK Ventures expects Type One Energy to be a trailblazer,” Tosukhowong said. “It will define the fusion-energy category’s place in transforming the energy landscape.”
She commented that TDK Ventures’ investment in these two particular energy startup companies is guided by the company’s unwavering commitment to contribute to society by supporting clean and affordable energy and addressing the climate activities that are needed for the future good of the world.
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