TMI

Hi there,

The big news from yesterday is that one reactor at Three Mile Island, the site of the U.S.’s most infamous nuclear mishap, may restart.

Elsewhere, NYC Climate Week starts, well, basically now. I flew back into New York last night and imagine many folks are en route. Apropos of all that flying, there were two massive rounds announced by sustainable aviation fuel companies this week. More on that below. I also wrote about topics I’m interested in on Thursday, and if you’re curious for more resources or want ideas on events to attend, respond to me directly or check out CTVC’s event guide.

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)

• Even as nuclear gets a lot of hype (more below), solar keeps gaining momentum, with 2024 global additions poised to set another record (for the 20th year in a row). Link. Link.

15 headlines

The good

• The DOE announced $3 billion in funding for 25 domestic battery manufacturing projects across the battery lifecycle (ranging from metal input material manufacturing to recycling). Link.

• The DOE's Loan Programs Office will also provide $1.56B in conditional loan funding for Wabash Valley Resources' low-carbon ammonia project in Indiana. Wabash will need to raise another $800 million to close the LPO deal. Link.

• Microsoft and Constellation Energy Group announced an agreement to restart the 835 MW 'Unit 1' reactor at Three Mile Island. The power purchase agreement will see Constellation invest $1.6 billion to restart the reactor and then sell Microsoft power for 20 years. The goal is to have the reactor online again by 2028. Despite the infamous Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979, the Unit 1 reactor ran until 2019. It'll take a lot of time before the reactor is up and running again; for more context, read further down for notes on the Palisades nuclear reactor restart process. If successful, this would be the first reactor in the U.S. to come back online after being decommissioned. Link. Link.

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a construction permit to Abilene Christian University to build one of Natura Resources' MSR-1 reactors, the first liquid salt reactor design (molten salt, specifically) licensed by NRC ever and only the second approval for an advanced reactor design in general. Link. Link.

• NRC also authorized Florida Power & Light's Turkey PoiLight'sear reactor units 3 and 4, which sit south of Miami, to operate for an additional 20 years. Together, the reactors offer more than 1.6 GW of capacity. Link.

• BMW announced a partnership with Redwood Materials to recycle batteries. Link.

• The DOE also added on a $1.8 billion NOI for direct air capture technologies and $40 million in funding for R&D on how to optimize and advance the lifetime and end-of-life recyclability of solar systems. Link. Link.

• In carbon removal, Arbor inked a deal with Microsoft to deliver 25,000 tons of carbon removal sourced from Arbor's engines which use organic waste to make power. The first 5,000 tons will be delivered in 2027. Elsewhere, Frontier announced $4.5 million worth of carbon removal purchases from nine early-stage carbon removal startups, including Exterra (enhanced rock weathering), Planeteers (CCS + mineralization), Silica (more enhanced weathering), Alt Carbon (even more enhanced weathering) and more. Equatic also announced it will manufacture oxygen-selective anodes in San Diego, CA, after claiming breakthrough results that "[unlock] scalable "hydrogen production using seawater electrolysis" alongside carbon" removal. Link. Link. Link.

The inbetweens

• The Federal Reserve cut interest rates from above 5% to below (0.5% cut), which reduces the cost of financing for infrastructure and energy projects, though it could spur more inflation. Financing is a bigger hurdle for clean energy projects than fossil fuel-focused assets (see second link) Link. Link.

• The NRC noted the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant needs repairs and testing before it can be restarted, though overall the project remains on track (supposedly). Link.

The bad

• Chinese coal use and output are still rising. Link.

• Major tech companies are being challenged on their use of RECs (Renewable Energy Credits) to make progress towards decarbonization goals as well as on their reporting on emissions in general as data center electricity demands grows and some companies, like Google, struggle to keep up with self-set targets. Link. Link.

• Cleveland-Cliffs, a U.S.-based steel manufacturer, said it might forgo a $500 million grant to replace one of its blast furnaces, though the CEO then walked back the claim days later. Link. Link.

• Volvo is delaying construction on a battery plant in Sweden (like Northvolt) while the Italian government revoked funding for a delayed Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz battery plant. Link. Link.

• Meyer Burger, the Swiss solar cell and module manufacturer, is cutting staff by ~20%. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds

✈️ Twelve, based out of Berkeley, CA, raised $645 million to make sustainable aviation fuel. That $645 million includes $400 million in project equity, $200 million in Series C funding, and $45 million in credit facilities. TPG, the private equity giant, led. More here .(U.S., Transportation)

✈️ Air Company, the carbon utilization company based out of New York City, raised $69 million in Series B funding to develop a commercial production plant for its sustainable aviation fuel. Avfuel, an aviation fuel supplier, led and Alaska Airlines invested. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

Medium-sized funding rounds

🌱 Pairwise, based out of Durham, NC, raised $40 million in Series C funding for its plant gene-editing technology. Deerfield Management led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

⚡💦 Battolyser Systems, based out of Schiedam, Netherlands, raised ~$33.3 million in Series A funding to make electrolyzers for green hydrogen. Global Cleantech Capital led. More here. (Netherlands, Industry)

📊 Datamaran, based out of London, raised $33 million in Series C funding to help businesses track and analyze ESG regulations and risks. Morgan Stanley Extension Capital led. More here. (U.K., Data Applications)

⚡ DeepDrive, based out of Garching bei München, Germany, raised ~$33 million in Series B funding to make dual rotor electric motors. Leitmotif led. More here. (Germany, Transportation)

🏗️ GreenLite, based out of New York, raised $28.5 million in Series A funding to simplify building plan reviews and help businesses manage permitting requirements. Craft Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Built Environment)

💻 LiquidStack, based out of Carrollton, TX, raised $20 million in Series B extension funding to develop more advanced cooling solutions for data centers. Tiger Global led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🔌 PowerX, based out of Tokyo, raised ~$17.5 million in Series C funding so far (the round is still open) from Toda, SMBC Nikko Securities, and others for its EV charger, battery technology, and energy management technologies. More here. (Japan, Energy / Transportation)

🌞 Nomad Solar Energy, based out of Madrid, Spain, raised ~$16.7 million in equity funding to make modular solar generators. Tilt Capital Partners led. More here (paywall). (Spain, Energy)

⬇️ Phlair, based out of Munich, Germany, raised ~$13.3 million in equity funding and ~$2.8 million in grant funding for its direct air capture technology. Extantia Capital led on the equity front and the grant came from the EIC accelerator. More here. (Germany, Carbon Removal)

⚡ Fuse Energy, based out of London, U.K., raised $12 million in equity funding for its “Project Zero,” as part of which it wants to build a decentralized renewable energy network that uses a DePIN and token model. Multicoin Capital led. More here. (U.K., Energy)

🌱 Plant-Ex Ingredients, based out of Avonmouth, U.K., raised ~$11.9 million to make developer of plant-based ingredients. BGF led. More here. (U.K., Food & Agriculture)

☂️ Brightband, based out of San Francisco, raised $10 million in Series A funding to provides AI-powered weather and climate forecasting tools. Prelude Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Data Applications)

Smaller funding rounds

🏍️ Zeno, based out of… honestly, not sure, but they’re going after the African market to start, raised $9.5 million in seed funding to make electric motorcycles. Lowercarbon Capital and Toyota Ventures led. More here. (Africa, Transportation)

👷 Smalt, based out of Berlin, Germany, raised ~$8.9 million in seed funding to provide training programs for green energy installers. Noa (fka A/O PropTech) led. More here. (Germany, Energy / Built Environment)

🔎 Cybord, based out of Tel Aviv, raised $8.7 million in Series A funding to help electronic component manufacturers do more advanced quality assurance during manufacturing. Capri Ventures led. More here. (Israel, Industry)

🧂 Tidal Metals, based out of Hamilton, NJ, raised $8.5 million in seed funding to make magnesium from saltwater. DCVC led. More here. (U.S., Materials)

🔋 Safire Technology Group, based out of Knoxville, TN, raised $8 million in pre-Series A funding to make safer lithium-ion batteries. Canaan Partners led. More here. (U.S., Energy / Transportation)

💻 Lightium, based out of Zürich, raised $7 million in seed funding to design and manufacture photonic chips that increase data transmission speeds and reduce power consumption in data centers. Vsquared Ventures and Lakestar co-led. More here. (Switzerland, Industry)

📊 Zevero, based out of London, raised $7 million in seed funding for its B2B carbon accounting platform. Spiral Capital led. More here. (U.K., Data Applications)

⚡💦  Hgen, based out of Hawthorne, CA, raised $5 million in seed funding to develop electrolyzers for heavy industry. Seven Seven Six led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

♨️ Karman Industries, based out of Long Beach, CA, raised $4 million in pre-seed funding to make industrial heat pumps. Riot Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🌊 CarbonEthics, based out of Jakarta, raised $2.1 million in seed funding to develop “blue” (think ocean) carbon credit projects. Intudo Ventures led. More here. (Indonesia, Carbon Removal)

🦜 Dunya Analytics, based out of Wilmington, DE, raised $1.2 million in seed funding for its software that simplifies biodiversity risk management. Synovia Capital led. More here. (U.S., Biodiversity)

🔎 Sceye, based out of Torrance County, NM, raised an undisclosed amount of Series C funding for its “long-endurance flight at high altitude” technologies designed to unlock new Earth observation data. Mawarid Holding Company led. More here. (U.S., Data Applications)

⬇️ Carbonfuture, based out of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding to make digital infrastructure for carbon removal companies and projects. Six Group led. More here. (Germany, Carbon Removal)

🖥️ CleanArc Data Centers, based out of Austin, TX, raised an undisclosed amount in equity funding from Snowhawk to develop hyperscale data centers. More here. (U.S., Energy / Industry)

New funds

💵 Microsoft, Blackrock, and others are combining forces on a $100 billion effort to build data centers for AI and source sufficient power (ideally clean power) to run them. More here. (U.S., Industry)

💰 Jimmy Haslam’s (the billionaire owner of the Cleveland Browns) family office, HF Capital, based out of Houston, will put $725 million towards a fund managed by Ara Partners to invest in businesses focused on industrial decarbonization. More here. (U.S., Industry)

💰 Elemental Impact, based out of Honolulu, launched a $100 million funding program for companies to “access capital from the US EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.” More here. (U.S., Funds)

Ciao,

– Nick