VivoPower appoints SpaceX battery engineer to advisory council

VivoPower PLC (NASDAQ: VIVO) announced the appointment of Porter Harris to its Advisory Council to support the company's AI data center power and battery storage strategy. Harris previously served as lead battery responsible engineer at SpaceX, where he led the engineering team that developed battery systems for the Falcon 9 rocket, Cargo Dragon, and Crew Dragon spacecraft.

The appointment comes as VivoPower scales its AI data center platform, which includes a 41.5MW operational site in Mo i Rana, Norway, with an additional 40MW under development and a broader pipeline across the Nordics, the Middle East, and Western Europe.

Harris brings over two decades of experience in battery engineering and energy storage system design. At SpaceX, his team developed battery systems for multiple spacecraft and launch vehicles. He currently serves as Founder and Managing Partner of Aeonix Studio, a Pasadena-based research laboratory focused on advanced physical sciences and energy systems.

"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," Harris said in a statement.

Harris began his career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory working on high voltage and high energy pulsed power systems. He holds 22 patents in high voltage energy and power systems and lithium-ion battery design.

VivoPower CEO Kevin Chin said Harris's engineering expertise will support the company's energy systems as it expands its AI data center operations. The company operates as a B Corp-certified developer and owner of data center infrastructure for AI compute applications.

The appointment strengthens VivoPower's Advisory Council as the company develops its sovereign AI data center platform across multiple markets, including a 300MW pipeline in Finland.

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