VivoPower Appoints SpaceX Veteran Porter Harris to Support AI Data Center Power and Battery Storage Strategy
Mr. Harris was the lead battery responsible engineer at SpaceX, leading the engineering team that developed the battery systems of the Falcon 9 rocket, Cargo Dragon, and Crew Dragon spacecraft
Appointment to Advisory Council bolsters VivoPower's power systems and battery engineering expertise across its sovereign AI data center platform, including operational Nordic sites as well as for Tembo, its electric vehicle business
LONDON, June 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VivoPower PLC (NASDAQ:VIVO) ("VivoPower" or the "Company"), a B Corp-certified global developer and owner of powered land and data center infrastructure for AI compute applications, today announced the appointment of Porter Harris to its Advisory Council to support the Company's AI data center power, battery storage, and thermal management strategy. VivoPower is scaling its sovereign AI data center platform, including its 41.5MW operational site at Mo i Rana in Norway, a further 40MW under development, as well as a broader pipeline across the Nordics, the Middle East, and Western Europe.
Mr. Harris brings more than two decades of pioneering experience in high-performance battery engineering, energy storage system design, and frontier energy infrastructure, most notably as the lead battery responsible engineer at SpaceX, where his team developed the battery systems powering the Falcon 9 rocket, the Cargo Dragon spacecraft, and the Crew Dragon human-rated spacecraft.
Porter Harris, Advisory Council Member of VivoPower, said: "I am glad to join VivoPower at this point in the AI infrastructure cycle. The bottleneck most people miss is the integrated stack of power, thermal management, and behind-the-meter storage that determines whether a data center can deliver reliable, low-latency compute at scale. The same physics governs energy storage on a rocket and energy storage at the boundary of a hyperscale data center. The engineering discipline required to put humans in orbit is directly applicable, and so is the rigor required to design systems whose performance must hold across a 20-year+ operating life. I look forward to bringing both to VivoPower across the AI infrastructure assets and Tembo."
Kevin Chin, Executive Chairman and CEO of VivoPower, said: "I am honored to welcome Porter to VivoPower. There are very few engineers in the world who have designed battery systems, trusted to carry human beings into orbit and back, and even fewer who have translated that engineering rigor into stationary energy storage and electrification platforms across multiple continents. As VivoPower accelerates the build-out of its AI data center campuses in its focus markets, it is imperative that our energy systems are best of breed, encompassing behind-the-meter energy storage, demand-response, and thermal-integration requirements. Porter's first-principles engineering perspective and his network across the global power engineering and energy storage ecosystems will be a significant advantage. His appointment further strengthens the depth of technical leadership on our Advisory Council and signals our long-term commitment to operational excellence as we scale."
Mr. Harris is the Founder and Managing Partner of Aeonix Studio, a Pasadena, California-based research laboratory and venture studio focused on advanced physical sciences, energy systems, and frontier engineering. He continues to advise and invest in companies working at the intersection of high-performance battery technology, stationary energy storage, and next-generation electrification infrastructure.
Mr. Harris's career began at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he worked on high voltage and high energy pulsed power systems before joining SpaceX as the battery responsible engineer, leading the engineering team that developed the battery systems for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the Cargo Dragon spacecraft, and the Crew Dragon human-rated spacecraft. His pioneering work in thermal management methodology and lithium-ion pack architecture established design standards that have since been adopted across aerospace, automotive, and grid-scale stationary storage applications. He holds twenty-two (22) patents, issued in the United States, in high voltage energy and power systems and in lithium-ion battery design, including novel mechanical and thermal architectures for high-performance, long lifetime packs.
Mr. Harris's appointment further strengthens the depth of technical and operational expertise on VivoPower's Advisory Council. As VivoPower scales its sovereign AI data center platform across the Nordics, the Middle East, and Western Europe — including its 41.5 MW operational site at Mo i Rana in Norway, with a further 40 MW under development, and its 300 MW pipeline in Finland — the integration of behind-the-meter battery energy storage systems (BESS), demand-response capability, and advanced thermal management will be a critical determinant of competitive advantage. Mr. Harris's engineering leadership in these domains complements the Advisory Council's existing strengths in sovereign AI strategy, capital markets, and international partnerships.
About VivoPower
Originally founded in 2014 and listed on Nasdaq since 2016, VivoPower is an award-winning B Corporation with data center and powered land infrastructure across Norway, Finland, and the United Arab Emirates. The Company's mission is to be the independent, trusted partner for sovereign nations that develop and operate sustainable data center infrastructure, ensuring sovereign control over power, data, and national intelligence. In doing so, VivoPower helps sovereign nations bridge the gap between their energy assets and their AI ambitions by providing the Power-to-X infrastructure necessary to build and control their own domestic intelligence hubs.
Forward-Looking Statements
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