Magnetar Investment Supports Torus’ Deployment of Modular Power Plants

Torus, a full-stack energy platform offering storage, management, security, and generation solutions, on September 9 announced a $200-million investment by Magnetar, an alternative asset manager. The investment is expected to accelerate the deployment of Torus’ proprietary modular power plants for utilities, data centers, and commercial and industrial customers across the U.S.

Torus builds small, inertia-based hybrid energy systems that combine the power of mechanical flywheels with the duration of batteries, equipped with enterprise-grade security and software management. Each unit can sit at the edge of the grid or on-site at a facility and respond to grid signals in milliseconds. Linked together, they form a distributed “grid operating system” that gives utilities and businesses a new way to keep power reliable, scalable, and secure.

Torus has received numerous regulatory and technical approvals that support its ability to partner with regulated utilities. The company is expanding its existing partnership with PacifiCorp through a memorandum of understanding covering up to 500 MW of demand response capacity, building on a 70-MW agreement signed earlier this year. These commitments are among the largest of their kind for American-made, grid-responsive energy storage covering Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Northern California.

“Scaling transformative, capital-intensive industries requires more than technology—it requires patient, flexible capital,” said Dave Snyderman, managing partner and global head of Alternative Credit & Fixed Income at Magnetar. “Torus is at the forefront of redefining energy infrastructure, and this investment will allow the company to accelerate its growth and bring this new utility model to market at scale. ”

Torus, in addition to working with utilities, is aligned with some of the country’s largest commercial and industrial companies. Customers including the Salt Lake City (Utah) International Airport (SLC) have adopted Torus systems to provide reliability in operations where uptime is critical.

Data Centers

Data centers are one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. Hyperscale operators need speed and reliability to smooth out AI dynamic load, and Torus technology is designed to deliver both, helping operators keep critical facilities online while also serving utilities’ needs at the sub-transmission and distribution level.

“With this investment, we’re building the world’s first distributed utility—connecting small inertial power plants that deliver grid-scale performance at the edge,” said Nate Walkingshaw, Torus CEO and co-founder. “Our technology has already been deployed more than 230 times this year with over 1 GW of facility managed power, proving it’s no longer experimental but essential.”

Torus, founded in 2021, began as an initial prototype in Springville, Utah. The company now has a 40,000-square-foot facility producing more than 400 MW annually. The company is preparing to open GigaOne, a 540,000-square-foot manufacturing campus in Salt Lake City, where production is expected to scale to more than one GW per quarter within three years. A small portion of the investment will be used to support the build-out of GigaOne as Torus ramps up production to meet customer demand.

—POWER edited this content, which was contributed by Torus’ communications team.