A bevy of BESS

Hi there,

Congrats to all U.S.-based W2 warriors who have tomorrow off. I’ll keep it light today. I did visit New York City’s oldest tree this week. Not that easy to find. Email me if you want the coordinates. Anywho, here’s the climate and energy tech news from the week that’s fit to print.

In today’s email:

• One story in a chart and a sentence

• Climate and energy headlines from the week

• Climate tech fundraising announcements

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THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• A McKinsey report crystallized that even as cleaner energy deployment accelerates in the U.S. and Europe, deployment still lags the rate needed to satisfy decarbonization targets. Link.

13 headlines

The good

• Germany plans to invest ~$3.7 billion in industrial decarbonization and carbon management infrastructure. Link.

• The Biden administration is providing $521 million in grants to 29 states for them to scale EV charger installations. The administration and the Bureau of Land Management also identified 31 million acres of federal land for solar development across the American West. Link. Link. 

• More than 1 GW of battery energy storage projects were announced this week, including 500 MW of capacity from Georgia Power across four sites, a 600 MW project in Southern California from NextEra, and a 350 MW project in Texas developed by Eolian. Link. Link. Link.

• Solar and storage comprised 80% of new capacity additions in the U.S. in H1 2024. Link.

• Meta and Sage Geosystems announced an agreement to develop up to 150 MW of geothermal energy projects to power Meta’s data centers. Link.

• The Oakland Unified School District completed its transition to an all-electric school bus fleet, complete with 74 EV school buses with vehicle-to-grid capabilities from Zūm. Link.

• C-Questra, based out of the Netherlands, will work with RepAir Carbon, based out of the U.S., to develop the EU’s first onshore direct air capture and storage project in France. Link.

The inbetweens

• Canada announced 100% import tariffs on Chinese-made EVs and 25% on steel and aluminum, matching a move made by the U.S. last month. Link.

• Worth a read: How Japan catalyzed a massive global supply chain for LNG (Bloomberg). Link.

The bad

• Swell Energy, a U.S. venture-backed business that wanted to aggregate distributed energy in residential settings and build VPPs, is shutting down. The company had raised hundreds of millions of dollars. Link. Link.

• Equinor canceled its offshore wind projects in Spain and Portugal after also exiting the Vietnamese market earlier this year. Link.

• An oil tanker flying under the Greek flag was attacked by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. So far, it hasn’t yielded a major oil spill, but concerns persist. Link.

• Meyer Burger, a Swiss solar panel manufacturer, canceled a planned 2 GW facility in Colorado. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Medium-sized funding rounds

⚛️ Last Energy, based out of Washington, D.C., raised $40 million in Series B funding to make 20 MW modular nuclear reactors. Gigafund led. More here. (U.S., Energy)

🧊 Sunswap, based out of Leatherhead, U.K., raised ~$22.8 million in equity funding to make solar and battery-powered refrigeration units for transportation. BGF led. More here. (U.K., Transportation)

🔋 wattalps, based out of wattalps, France, raised ~$12.1 million in Series A funding to make modular, high-performance lithium-ion batteries. Move Energy and Ring Capital joined existing investors in the round. More here. (France, Energy / Transportation)

🏠 Moxy, based out of Las Vegas, raised $11 million in Series A funding to make siding, roofing, and other building materials from forestry and agricultural waste materials like sawdust and corn stalks. At One Ventures led. More here (paywall). (U.S., Materials)

🌾 HabiTerre, based out of Champaign, IL, raised $10 million in a first close of Series A funding to build environment systems models that establish baselines for agricultural productivity and environmental outcomes. John Deere led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

Smaller funding rounds

🚌 MMI, based out of Zbyszewo, Poland, raised $8.6 million in equity funding to make electric and hydrogen-powered buses. Vinci SA led. More here. (Poland, Transportation)

🐟 New School Foods, based out of Toronto, raised $6 million in equity funding to make plant-based seafood products. IKEA Group, Good Startup, NewTree Capital, and Hatch invested. More here. (Canada, Food & Agriculture)

🍎 Terrantic, based out of Seattle, raised $3.5 million in seed funding for its data platform designed to reduce waste in the food supply chain. Supply Change Capital led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

🔌 Fleet, based out of San Francisco, raised $2.5 million in seed funding to help HR departments manage employee commuter programs and enable companies to reduce emissions. Congruent Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

♨️ Calectra, based out of Oakland, CA, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding and grant funding for its thermal energy storage system designed to help decarbonize industrial processes. Lifeline Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🐟 Tidal, based out of Trondheim, Norway, raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding for its AI and computer vision product that offers salmon farmers a better understanding of productivity and risks at their aquaculture operations. Perry Creek Capital led. More here. (Norway, Food & Agriculture)

⬇️ Meloon, based out of Berlin, raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding from BackBone Ventures for its membranes for carbon capture and removal. More here. (Germany, Carbon Removal)

Other financing rounds

⚡ Sunly, based out of Tallinn, Estonia, raised ~$330 million in debt funding to build 1.3 GW of solar, wind, and storage across Eastern Europe. More here. (Estonia, Energy)

🌊 Ocean Oasis, based out of Oslo, Norway, raised ~$6.6 million in grant funding from the European Executive Agency on Climate, Infrastructure and Environment for its offshore wave-powered desalination technology. More here.

👨‍🌾 Legume Technology, based out of East Bridgford, U.K., raised ~$2.8 million from the Gates Foundation and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to make biostimulants that boost yields for smallholder farmers in Africa. More here. (U.K. / Africa, Food & Agriculture)

New funds

💵 LS Power, based out of New York, raised $2.7 billion for its LS Power Equity Partners V fund, out of which it will invest in renewable, gas generation, and other energy projects. More here. (U.S., Funds)

💵 Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, based out of Copenhagen, raised roughly $1 billion from Norway’s sovereign wealth fund for its fifth flagship fund, which invests in offshore and onshore wind, solar farms, grid infrastructure, and energy storage. More here. (Denmark, Funds)

💰 redalpine, based out of Zurich, raised ~$197 million in funding for its seventh fund. The firm invests across many sectors, including energy. More here. (Switzerland, Funds)

💰 Nine Realms, based out of Copenhagen, Denmark, raised ~$55 million from The European Investment Fund to invest in early-stage technology companies focused on supply chain decarbonization. More here. (Denmark, Funds)

Ciao,

– Nick