Janus Continental Group (JCG), a conglomerate with businesses in the energy, hospitality and real estate sectors across three continents, has announced that it has invested US$13mn in Highview Enterprises Limited, the developer of liquid air long-duration energy storage systems, called the CRYOBattery
JCG’s subsidiary, Great Lakes Africa Energy Ltd (GLAE), will license Highview Power’s cryogenic energy storage technology to co-develop large-scale renewable energy generation and storage projects. The investment will tackle the renewable energy storage gap that currently exists across Africa, where nearly 600 million people live without access to electricity.
JCG's investment arm Janus Capital took part in the Highview Power’s Growth Capital funding round alongside Sumitomo Heavy Industries and TSK, raising a total of US$70mn, bringing the total amount of funding and grants the company has secured to date to over US$145mn.
Highview Power’s liquid air long duration energy storage systems offer multiple gigawatt hours of storage, are scalable with no size limitations, and produce zero emissions. Unlike other long-duration energy storage solutions, such as pumped hydro-power or compressed air, the CRYOBattery has no geographic constraints and has a small footprint, even at gigawatt levels. At utility-scale, Highview’s storage systems paired with renewables are equivalent in performance to fossil fuels and nuclear baseload power.
Rikin Shah, CEO of JCG, will join the board of directors at Highview Power and brings extensive experience in building adaptable business models to support sustainable and profitable growth in sub-Saharan energy markets.
Commenting on the investment, Shah said, “We believe there is a huge joint opportunity for JCG and Highview to unleash the potential of renewable energy across Africa. We saw enormous value in investing in Highview, both strategically to develop new technologies in the energy space, and operationally to support JCG’s wider growth and business goals. Highview is an inspirational example of true innovation in energy, and the synergy between their team and ours motivated JCG to make this investment. Together, we’re confident that our two businesses can create lasting, positive impact in the African energy sector.”
