Three startups recently raised sizable rounds to scale up production of their solid-state transformer technologies. This week, DG Matrix raised a $60 million Series A and Heron Power raised $140 million in a Series B round. In November, Amperesand raised $80 million to chase after the burgeoning data center market. Existing transformers are reliable and efficient, but that's about it. They're relatively crude instruments, made largely of copper and iron. They react passively to changes on the grid and are capable of tackling only one task per device. 'An old-school steel, copper, and oil transformer doesn't have any monitoring, doesn't have any control,' Drew Baglino, founder and CEO of Heron Power, told TechCrunch. In instances where electricity surges or a power plant trips offline, that can be a liability. The devices can incorporate power from a range of difference sources ' including traditional power plants, renewables, and batteries ' and transform that electricity into...
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