Hot, hot atoms

Hi,

The nuclear fission resurgence continues, backed increasingly by tech companies and booming data center demand. Mind you, let’s all hold a touch of our excitement for when a new reactor, whether small or large, actually gets deployed / energized. 

This email is filled to the brim with updates on tech giants inking nuclear deals and equity investments in everything from nuclear waste clean-up to the data center landscape. 

Before we get to that, one ask: Let me know what additional Keep Cool offers you’d benefit from. More newsletters in a particular style or on a certain topic? A searchable Google Sheet with all the deals we covered in 2024? Book recommendations and a ‘how to’ on where I do research? I’ll add these for the paid subscribers in the future. LMK.

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)

• As crystallized in the IEA’s latest report, ‘The World Energy Outlook 2024,’ as much as everyone is gaga for data centers, they represent a small portion of global demand growth (see, for instance, air conditioning / space cooling, which will be a bigger source of load growth globally for decades to come). Link.

20+ (!) headlines

The good

• Google ordered 6-7 small modular reactors (SMRs) from Kairos Power to secure 500 MW of low-carbon electricity. This marks a first for tech companies commissioning new nuclear power plants and a significant vote of faith in SMR technology in general. Kairos develops 50 MW SMRs with molten salt cooling technology and aims to have its first demonstration reactor online by 2027. The DOE is also investing $300 million in the effort. SMRs still face a lot of regulatory and technical uncertainty. Link. Link.

• In addition to Google's deal and an equity investment we'll cover in the fundraising section, Amazon also announced two new SMR projects this week to source new electricity for data centers and cloud operations. The first is an SMR project in Washington state with utility Energy Northwest that will initially feature 320 MW (four SMRs) with the option to expand to 960 MW. X-energy, the company Amazon also invested in this week, is slated to supply those SMRs. The second project includes an agreement with Dominion Energy, a major Virginia-based utility, to explore bids from SMR developers to develop a project near Dominion's existing 'North Anna' nuclear power station. To be sure, Amazon is still very focused on wind and solar; in total; it has procured 77 TWh of renewable energy generation to date. Link. Link. Link. Link.

• Also covered under fundraising, Crusoe Energy announced a $3.4 billion joint venture with investors Blue Owl Capital and Primary Digital Infrastructure to develop a 206 MW data center in Abilene, Texas. Crusoe Energy develops sustainably powered data centers by diverting methane that would otherwise be flared to generate electricity with a higher combustion efficiency, which reduces methane emissions into the atmosphere. The data site will be leased to Oracle, though the final customer is OpenAI, with Microsoft acting as a middleman, per Data Center Dynamics. Link.

• The DOE's Loan Programs Office also stayed busy. It finalized a $861.3 million loan guarantee for two solar+battery facilities and two standalone battery facilities in Puerto Rico this week. Collectively referred to as 'Project Marahu,' the facilities will add 200 MW of solar generation and up to 285 MW / 1,140 MWh of standalone storage to the island's grid. Link.

• The DOE's Loan Programs Office also announced conditional approval for a $671 million loan for Aspen Aerogel's Georgia plant to make thermal barriers for batteries. Link.

• Further, the DOE's LPO also announced preliminary plans yesterday to offer loan guarantees to biofuel and sustainable aviation fuel projects in South Dakota and Montana. One $1.46 billion loan package will finance Gevo Net-Zero 1's corn starch-to-jet fuel plant in Lake Preston, South Dakota, which uses carbon capture and produces biofuels, animal feed, and corn oil. Another $1.44 billion loan guarantee would help Montana Renewables expand an existing plant to use vegetable fats to make sustainable aviation fuel, naphtha, and renewable diesel. The Gevo project could make up to 60 million gallons of fuels annually, while the Montana plant could produce up to 315 million gallons of SAF and other biofuels annually. Link. Link.

• Finally, the DOE also announced nearly $2 billion in grant funding for transmission and grid infrastructure upgrades. This is the third round of funding from the $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships ('GRIP') program; the funds will go to 32 projects across 42 states and D.C., supporting 7.5 GW of additional grid capacity. Link.

• Niron Magnetics opened a first-of-its-kind manufacturing facility to make rare-earth-free permanent magnets in Michigan. The magnets are needed for a wide range of technologies ranging from EVs to wind turbines and more. Link.

• Chinese manufacturer Dongfeng Electric Corporation unveiled massive 26 MW offshore wind turbines that are longer than the Chrysler building is tall. The turbines are a full 31% larger than the previous record of 18 megawatts. Link.

• The Bureau of Land Management provided final approval to Fervo Energy's Cape Geothermal Power Project in Beaver County, Utah. Once fully operational, the project could generate up to 2 GW of electricity, comparable to two large nuclear reactors. Link.

• California now has more than 13 GW of battery energy storage capacity deployed. Link.

• Shenzhen Energy connected phase 1 (500 MW) of a 2 GW solar PV + storage project in the Xinjiang desert to the grid last week. Phase 1 also includes 125 MW / 250 MWh of storage. Link.

• EVs achieved a record share of new auto sales in the U.S. in Q3, rebuffing reports of slowing sales. Link.

• Phillips 66 will cease operations at its massive Los Angeles-area refinery by the end of 2025. Link.

• The Supreme Court didn't decide to block a key Biden Admin climate regulation (for now). The rule will force natural gas and coal power plants to comply with emissions limits in the future. The Supreme Court has also recently rejected other environment-related stay requests, including EPA methane rules. Most of these rules are far from safe overall, though. Link. Link. Link. Link.

The inbetweens

• Dominion, a major U.S. utility, released plans to add 21 GW of clean energy by 2039, though it also penciled 5.9 GW of new gas generation into its plans. Link.

• El Salvador inked the largest ever (as-of-yet) “debt-for-nature” swap, securing a $1 billion loan from J.P. Morgan to pay off outstanding national debt. The deal saves the country $350 million, which it then says it will earmark for river restoration projects. These novel financing agreements are becoming more common—time will tell whether they’re impactful. Link.

• Neom, a massive project to build a new city in Saudi Arabia, is currently using one-fifth of all the steel produced in the world. In my (and many others) view it’s more likely than not this project will fail, meaning it will have wasted a lot of resources. Link.

The bad

• The IEA report we referenced above (that’s well worth perusing in its own right) noted “Global carbon-dioxide emissions are expected to fall just 3 percent by 2030 under policies that nations are currently pursuing, the agency said. Emissions need to fall 33 percent this decade to meet the ambitious climate goals that governments have agreed to at United Nations climate talks.” Link. Link.

• Kindermorgan approved a final investment decision (FID) to invest $2 billion to expand a natural gas pipeline that already moves 2 billion cubic feet per day from the Permian to South Texas, highlighting the robust medium-term demand for natural gas. Link.

• Petrobras, the Brazil-based oil giant, vowed to extract as much oil as possible from its existing fields in Brazil while expanding into reserves elsewhere, adopting an “all the oil counts” mantra. Link.

• Keeping on the oil industry, methane emissions from upstream flaring and venting are still rising globally. Rysted Energy estimated upstream emissions close to 1 gigatonne of CO2-equivalent emissions in 2023 (mostly from methane), up 7% from 2022. Link. 

• Last one on the oil beat: The Kyiv School of Economics Institute published a report this week detailing how Russian exporters continue to skirt sanctions. Link.

• Massive flash floods rocked a lot of France this week, Phoenix continues to break heat records, and much of South America is in a serious drought. Link. Link. Link.

• Cuba’s entire power grid went down this weekend as the country rations fuel and a powerplant failed. Link.

• Updated damage estimates suggest both Hurricane Helene and Milton could end up driving $50 billion or more in damages. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds

⚛️ X-energy, based out of Rockville, MD, raised $500 million in Series C-1 funding to build advanced SMRs and design its own nuclear fuels. Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund led. Link.

🔋 Terralayr, based out of Zug, Switzerland, raised ~$67 million in equity funding and ~$16.2 million in debt from Creandum, Earlybird, Norrsken VC, and others to expand its grid-scale battery management platform. Link.

⚡💧 Koloma, based out of Denver, raised $50 million in extended Series B funding to develop geologic hydrogen sources. Osaka Gas and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and others invested. Link.

Medium-sized funding rounds

🔋 Equilibrium Energy, based out of San Francisco, raised $39 million in Series B funding to operate grid-connected battery energy storage systems and offer energy management solutions and services to other clients. DCVC led. Link.

🌊 CorPower Ocean, based out of Stockholm, raised ~$34.8 million in Series B funding to develop wave energy technology. NordicNinja VC, SEB Greentech, InnoEnergy, and others invested. Link.

📊 REsurety, based out of Boston, raised $32 million in Series C funding for its data analytics platform for clean energy buyers. The company will now also launch a marketplace for clean energy. S2G Ventures led. Link.

🔥 OroraTech, based out of Munich, raised $27.3 million in Series B funding to build satellite-based wildfire detection technologies. Korys, ECBF, and Bayern Kapital invested. Link.

⚛️ Ookuma Diamond Device, based out of Hokkaido, Japan, raised $27 million in equity funding to make diamond chips designed to help with radioactive debris remediation at nuclear power plants. Globis Capital Partners led. Link.

🔗 Monogoto, based out of Palo Alto, CA, raised $27 million in Series A funding for its “software-defined connectivity” and IoT solutions, which have significant applications in EVs, as one example. Toyota Ventures led. Link.

🍫 Blue Stripes, based out of New York, raised $20 million in Series B funding to make more sustainable consumer food products from ‘upcycled’ cacao fruit. Zintinus led. Link.

🖥️ DeNexus, based out of Boston, raised $17.5 million in Series A funding to build software for industrial companies to assess and manage cybersecurity risks. Punja Global Ventures led. Link.

🏠 Treehouse, based out of San Francisco, raised $16.6 million in Series A funding to make software to speed the installation of home energy upgrades. Flourish Ventures led. Link.

☂️ Perry Weather, based out of Dallas, raised $15 million in Series B funding for its weather monitoring software. Arthur Ventures led. Link.

🏭 RIFT, based out of Eindhoven, Netherlands, raised ~$11.9 million in Series A funding for its technology which uses iron powder combustion to generate emissions-free high-temperature heat. PGGM, Invest-NL, and Oost NL invested. Link.

🚗 Lidwave, based out of Jerusalem, raised $10 million in seed funding to make LiDAR chips for use in various applications, including in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and industrial automation. Jumpspeed Ventures and Next Gear Ventures co-led. Link.

🔋 Liminal, based out of Emeryville, CA, raised $10 million in equity funding to use advanced inspection systems that combine ultrasound technology and machine learning to evaluate the quality of battery cells during manufacturing. LG Technology Ventures led. Link to coverage of the round here, and link to a piece we wrote on the business last year here.

☀️ King Energy, based out of Durango, CO, raised $10 million in seed funding to build a portfolio of solar on commercial buildings and manage tenants’ energy bills. ArcTern Ventures led. Link.

🔋 Forge Nano, based out of Thornton, CO, raised $10 million in equity investment from GM Ventures for its ‘Atomic Armor’ technology, which it says allows it to “engineer the surface of raw materials atom-by-atom, strengthening their properties and improving product performance.” Link.

Smaller funding rounds

️‍🔥 Hen Nozzles, based out of Hayward, CA, raised $8 million in seed funding to better nozzles for fire fighting. O'Neil Capital Partners, Cthulhu Ventures, Z21 Ventures, and others invested. Link.

📦 Fin, based out of London, raised $7 million in seed funding to provide logistics and delivery services using electric cargo bikes and vans in urban areas. MaC Venture Capital led. Link.

⬇️ Aerleum, based out of Strasbourg, France, raised ~$6.1 million in seed funding to develop direct air capture technology. 360 Capital and HTGF co-led. Link.

⚡️ Green Gravity, based out of Australia, raised ~$6 million in Series A funding to develop energy storage systems that leverage disused mining shafts for gravitational energy. HMC Capital, BlueScopeX, Pacific Channel, and Sumisho Coal Australia Holdings invested. Link.

🔋 Storio, based out of Île-de-France, raised ~$5.5 million in seed funding to provide energy storage solutions and battery management software to commercial and industrial customers. Lowercarbon led. Link.

💧 Solubag, based out of Hallandale Beach, FL, raised $4.5 million in Series A funding to make water-soluble bags as an alternative to single-use plastic. Exit Ventures led. Link.

🧱 Concretene, based out of Manchester, U.K., raised ~$3.9 million in equity funding to make graphene-based materials to help decarbonize concrete production. Molten Ventures led. Link.

⬇️ Octavia Carbon, based out of Nairobi, Kenya, raised $3.9 million in seed funding to develop direct air capture technology. Lateral Frontiers and E4E Africa led. Link.

🥩 Sallea, based out of Zürich, Switzerland, raised $2.6m in pre-seed funding to make scaffolding technology for cultivated meat production. Founderful led. Link.

⚡Nomos, based out of Berlin, raised ~$2.1 million in pre-seed funding to help businesses develop and offer dynamic and customized electricity pricing plans to customers. Speedinvest led. Link.

🗑️ Viridian Renewable Technology, based out of Melbourne, ~$1.7 million from Breakthrough Victoria to convert food waste into insect-based protein for animal feed and fertilizers. Link.

⚡💧 1s1 Energy, based out of Portola Valley, CA, raised $1.4 million in seed funding to make green hydrogen production by using boron-based materials in electrolyzers. Faber Ventures and Asiri led. Link.

🏭 TheStorage, based out of Tampere, Finland, raised ~$1.1 million in equity funding to make sand-based industrial heat batteries. 2C Ventures and Superhero Capital led. Link.

🧱 Circuland, based out of London, raised ~$815,000 in pre-seed funding for its ‘Digital Material Passports,’ designed to help construction industry companies track materials' lifecycles and to facilitate more material reuse and recovery. Apeiron Ventures led. Link.

Other funding rounds

🖥️ Crusoe Energy, based out of Denver, announced a $3.4 billion joint venture with investors Blue Owl Capital and Primary Digital Infrastructure to develop a 206 MW data center in Abilene, Texas. Crusoe Energy develops sustainably powered data centers by diverting methane that would otherwise be flared to generate electricity with a higher combustion efficiency, which reduces methane emissions into the atmosphere. The data site will be leased to Oracle, though the final customer is OpenAI, with Microsoft acting as a middleman, per Data Center Dynamics. Link.

🏠 Hometree, a U.K.-based residential energy services provider, raised ~$65 million in mezzanine financing from CPP Investment to finance solar, battery, and heat-pump installations. Link.

⛽️ Terviva, based out of Alameda, CA, raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding from Chevron Renewable Energy Group to produce more feedstocks for renewable fuels. Link.

New funds

💰 Conservation Resources, based out of Exeter, NH, raised $80 million in a first close of its Forest Fund VII to make impact investments in timberland and farmland. Link. 

💰 Tensor Ventures, based out of Prague, launched a new ~$55 million fund to invest in deep tech startups, including in climate tech. Link.

💰 Also Capital, based out of New York, raised $21 million for a new fund to invest in hard tech, including synthetic biology, emobility, clean power generation, and more. Link.

Bye,

– Nick