Energy storage firm Base Power commenced sales of its large home battery systems to residents of Illinois yesterday, according to Canary Media. Significantly, this marks the startup’s initial venture into the grid zone managed by PJM Interconnection, the largest grid operator in the U.S. by area, which has notably had challenges adapting to the surge in new data centers.

In addition to Illinois, PJM’s jurisdiction includes Northern Virginia, one of the world’s most concentrated data center hubs. This concentration, combined with a lack of new generating sources, has nearly doubled wholesale electricity prices in PJM over the last year. The situation has deteriorated so severely that AEP, one of the largest utilities in the area, has threatened to exit the market.

Base Power was established two years ago in Texas to develop a virtual power plant centered around residential batteries. Base’s batteries, beginning at 25 kilowatt-hours, surpass those of many competitors, and instead of selling the batteries, it requires clients to purchase electricity from it. In Illinois, its prices are 25% lower than those of utility ComEd.

The timing of the startup’s initiatives has been impeccable. Base is presently operating over 500 megawatt-hours of battery storage in Texas, charging when electricity prices are low and disbursing them when the grid is under the most strain. 

Its entry into the PJM grid occurs at a moment when the operator has faced criticism for mishandling the increase in electricity demand. PJM halted applications for new generating sources starting in 2022, only re-opening the queue in April. Unlike Base, its timing couldn’t have been worse — electricity demand has surged in the past four years.

Base’s expansion has accelerated since October, when it publicized a $1 billion funding round led by Addition. This round closely followed a $200 million round spearheaded by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Valor Equity Partners in April 2025.

Traditionally, PJM has been sluggish to embrace new technologies like distributed energy storage, but Base’s focus on residential customers allows it to circumvent the sluggish grid operator.

“We are deploying capacity behind the meter at the residential home, where an interconnection already exists, so we don’t wait in the interconnection queue,” Zach Dell, founder and CEO of Base Power, stated to Canary Media.