- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Energy | Environment
The Puyallup Tribe is looking to secure a foothold in the emerging clean energy sector with a recent investment and a new manufacturing partnership with an Oregon battery storage company.
The tribe’s investment arm, Puyallup Tribal Enterprises (PTE), announced last week that it was the lead investor in the latest funding round raised by Skip Technology, Inc., a Portland-based maker of large-scale, long-duration batteries.
The partnership goes beyond just funding — PTE has also signed on as a manufacturing partner for Skip Tech's liquid-based “flow batteries” that use bromine and hydrogen rather than lithium.
It comes at a time when the market for battery energy storage systems is growing at a rapid clip, with revenues expected to reach between $120 billion and $150 billion by 2030, more than double its size today, according to global consulting firm Mckinsey and Company.
“Their pitch to us checked all the boxes,” Puyallup Tribal Enterprises CEO Matt Wadhwani told Tribal Business News. “We’re working to diversify our revenue, of course, but we’re also concerned about global impact and sustainable business ventures. The market potential is there as well.”
By avoiding the lithium typically used in rechargeable batteries, flow batteries avoid extractive mining, Skip Tech Chief Strategic Officer Ben Brown told Tribal Business News.
“You're ripping up the earth to get (it),” Brown said. “It's a huge impact to get the lithium that we need for electric vehicles and other technology. Bromine is the ocean and is a waste product from desalination. It's widely available and it doesn't require the extractive mining that the lithium industry currently requires.”
PTE and Skip Tech didn’t disclose the specific amount invested by the tribe, though the company’s latest round of funding raised $1.3 million, according to an April 2024 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Skip Tech also raised about $625,000 in 2022, SEC filings show. Other investors in the company include venture capital firms Elevate Capital and Ideaship, as well as the Keiretsu Forum, an angel investor group, according to Pitchbook.
The latest capital raise will help Skip Tech continue testing and developing the technology, Brown said.
In addition to investing directly in Skip Tech, PTE is building a manufacturing facility near Tacoma, Wash. to construct the newly developed batteries. PTE’s manufacturing unit, Tahoma Global Logistics, will help build prototypes and handle assembly for Skip Tech.
Each battery will fit inside a shipping container and store enough energy to power 35 homes for 10 hours at a time. The goal is to begin manufacturing the batteries for field tests in 2024.
From there, PTE hopes to expand the manufacturing process to cater to industrial clients and, eventually, entire power grids. Later on, the batteries could help support other tribes and their renewable energy products too, the company writes. With any luck, a final marketable product can hit the market in 2025, Brown said.
The relationship between Skip Technology and PTE began in the autumn of 2023, Wadhwani told Tribal Business News.
“Part of our diversification plan was manufacturing, and finding the right partners to manufacture,” Wadhwani said. “We have the same alignment and goals, which goes a long way in any partnership, especially with the tribe.”
It’s the first such manufacturing agreement for the tribal enterprise, according to Bradley Root, PTE’s manufacturing CEO. It’s also a potential economic driver for the tribe and its citizens, creating manufacturing jobs and related work in construction, logistics and services.
The investment and partnership with Skip Tech is the latest in a series of economic development initiatives the Tribe has launched since 2020, when it opened its new $400 million Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma.
In 2021, the Tribe announced a partnership with Amazon on a sort center and opened the Emerald Queen Casino hotel in Tacoma. It also launched the BetMGM @ EQC sportsbook and opened its Commencement Bay Cannabis store.
In 2022, the Tribe and Kenmore Air partnered to operate seaplanes from the Tribe’s property and opened restaurant Woven. PTE also acquired a Fife, Wash.-based candy maker, Ames International, and launched its own logistics company in 2023.
