Ambrosia Energy, a startup founded by former SpaceX executives, has begun work on a battery manufacturing facility near Austin, Texas, with a planned annual production capacity of 10 gigawatt-hours. The 150,000-square-foot factory will support the company’s development of solar-powered energy systems designed to supply data centers with continuous electricity.
Co-founder and CEO Ben Longmier announced the project at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco on October 13. He said the factory would eventually support the construction of approximately 300 megawatts of power plant capacity annually, with full production expected within two to three years.
Ambrosia Combines Solar Panels and Batteries for Continuous Power
Ambrosia emerged from stealth in June 2026 with plans to supply electricity to data centers at approximately $100 per megawatt-hour. Its approach combines solar panels with battery storage, allowing solar electricity to power facilities during the day while charging batteries for nighttime and cloudy conditions.
According to Ambrosia’s official company announcement, the startup is developing power systems that can operate independently of the electrical grid. Customers can install these systems on their own land or locate their facilities alongside Ambrosia’s power plants.
The company plans to begin construction of its first commercial power plant in West Texas before the end of 2026. The facility will combine 300 megawatts of solar capacity with 660 megawatt-hours of battery storage to provide 30 megawatts of continuous power, targeting 99.3% uptime.
Battery Manufacturing Designed to Reduce Costs
Ambrosia has already tested its solar and storage technology through a pilot power plant capable of supplying 200 kilowatts continuously. Longmier said sections of the pilot had operated for more than 100 consecutive days.
The company is reducing manufacturing costs by simplifying components such as solar mounting structures and battery packs. Rather than manufacturing battery cells, Ambrosia purchases existing cells and assembles its own packs using designs with fewer parts.
Longmier said its battery packs contain approximately 100 times fewer parts than comparable products the company has examined. He estimates their manufacturing cost at 1.3 times the price of the underlying battery cells, compared with five to seven times for many stationary storage systems.
These cost reductions are intended to help Ambrosia operate profitably at $100 per megawatt-hour, despite installing more solar panels and battery capacity than its continuous power output requires. Longmier said the projected pricing would allow the company’s electricity supply to compete with natural gas turbines used for data center power generation.
Former SpaceX Executives Lead Ambrosia Energy
Longmier founded Ambrosia alongside Sara Spangelo, his former colleague and co-founder of satellite communications startup Swarm Technologies. The pair sold Swarm to SpaceX in 2021 and subsequently worked on Starlink Mobile, SpaceX’s satellite-to-phone communications business.
Ambrosia is backed by DFJ Growth and is expanding its engineering, manufacturing, and operations teams in Texas and California. The company maintains a laboratory in Redwood City while developing its Texas manufacturing facility and commercial power projects.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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