We must "use clean technology at a far higher scale" to combat climate
change.
A $44 million fundraising round for an automated solar farm building farm
was recently co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
The company Terabase Energy wants to use robotic arms to construct solar
farms that are "terawatt scale."
Bill Gates recently promised to donate a significant portion of his wealth
to charities and worthwhile causes.
According to a press release, $44 million has been invested in the solar
business Terabase Energy by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a venture capital
firm that focuses on finding solutions to climate change and is backed by
people like Bill Gates.
The venture capital company, which is well-known for its support of Amp
Robotics and Lime, co-led the Terabase purchase with investor Prelude
Ventures. With this round, Terabase Energy's funding has reached $52
million.
The co-founder and CEO of the business, Matt Campbell, claims that Terabase
Energy's objective is to construct robotic solar farms on a "terawatt
scale."
Construction of solar farms is accelerated by automation.
Large solar panels are lifted and attached to sun trackers by robotic arms
in the company's automated on-site facility. The ability of this automated
manufacturing to operate around-the-clock enables it to speed up plant
building while lowering construction expenses. In addition to creating
software tools, Terabase manages solar farm design and construction.
According to Campbell, "This investment provides validation of our idea for
quickly implementing solar at the Terawatt scale. "The first Terawatt (one
million Megawatts) of solar energy was built in the globe fifty years ago,
but to reach the global decarbonization objectives, we need to build at
least 50 more Terawatts as soon as feasible."
Despite offering its services to paying clients, Terabase has so far kept
much of its technology under wraps. Ten megawatts worth of panels were
purportedly installed as part of the company's first commercial operation. A
terawatt is equal to one million megawatts, hence the startup will have a
difficult time achieving its terawatt scale objectives. "The only way to
effectively address the climate catastrophe is to spread clean technology to
more sectors of the economy than we have in the past. We are thrilled to be
a Terabase partner since the Terabase platform is an innovative technology
that will accelerate the deployment of additional solar "said Sheldon
Kimber, CEO of Terabase client Intersect Power.
Breakthrough Energy Ventures, formed by Bill Gates to support climate
change initiatives, is governed by a prestigious and affluent board that
includes Jeff Bezos and Masayoshi Son. The Arizona-based business Source
Global, which creates water out of thin air, was recently supported by the
VC firm as well. Source Global uses blowers to suck in outside air and a
specifically designed panel to collect water through condensation.
Gates has declared his intention to progressively drop from the list of the
richest people in the world, beginning with a $20 billion donation to the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (B&MGF).
The Microsoft founder has invested a large portion of his money towards
companies and solutions for climate change. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and
SpaceX, recently questioned his track record in a fairly petulant manner.
Around the same time that information about Musk's refusal to work with
Gates after learning the Microsoft founder had a short position in Tesla
emerged, Gates was the subject of a derogatory photo Musk shared on social
media. Tesla is battling the impacts of climate change more than any other
corporation, according to Musk at the time.
