A $40 million Series C funding round has just been secured by Ojjo, a company located in San Rafael, California, whose solar foundations will support the photovoltaic panels on one of the biggest solar farms in the United States.
According to Electrek, the $1.2 billion, 690 megawatts (MW) + 380 MW battery energy storage Gemini Solar project will struggle to function without Ojjo’s Earth Truss technology. Notably, the solar farm is expected to be built in the Mojave Desert, some 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas, on around 6,000 acres of government land.
Furthermore, it is anticipated to be put into operation next year and will provide enough renewable energy to power 400,000 households.
One of the fastest-installing solar foundations in the industry is the Earth Truss, as declared by Ojjo. The amount of steel and manpower needed is generally 50% lower than with a traditional pile arrangement. In fact, over 1.6 gigawatts of solar projects have so far contracted or built the Earth Truss system.
It is worth noting that aside from Ajax Strategies, the energy transition investing platform of NGP, NGP ETP, led the Series C fundraising round for Ojjo.
With that in mind, Ojjo’s expansion and completion of its 9 GW active project pipeline will be accelerated by the additional financing it acquired.
James Wallis, a partner at NGP, said:
| Solar foundations represent a major untapped opportunity in the industry. We believe that Ojjo’s experienced team is perfectly positioned to deliver innovation, automation, and cost savings at a time when the industry needs it most. |
The Gemini Solar project will essentially produce a tremendous quantity of clean energy and be used in many other solar farms. That said, it will heavily rely on this solar foundation product.
