Iran attacks Israel (again), small and mobile nuclear reactors, hydrogen powered airliners

Clean Tech & Advanced Energy

Oct 02, 2024

Good morning,

The U.S. is sending thousands more troops to the Middle East as Iran launches 180+ ballistic missiles towards Israel. The DoD has broken ground on Project Pele, the small, modular, nuclear reactor. Spain has unveiled the first high-speed, hydrogen-powered train. China has built a massive solar farm with a collecting tower in South Africa.

Now, let’s go!

News Headlines:

Unable to escape the Middle East for half a century, the U.S. sends a 'few thousand' more troops as tensions rise (AP)
Israel and the U.S. repel 180-missile attack from Iran (AX)
Russia aims to increase defense spending to record levels as it pursues victory in Ukraine (AP)
Week of shock and awe ignites China's stock market (RT)
SoftBank is joining OpenAI's $6.5B fundraise (TI)
Americans are more reliant than ever on Government aid (WSJ)

CleanTech & Advanced Energy:

'Orbitronics' could replace 'electronics' for more environmentally friendly tech (TD)
OPEC expects oil demand to continue climbing over next two decades (RT)
Cleantech sector 'energized' by U.S. fed rate cut (TEM)
Argonne researchers crack a key problem with sodium-ion batteries for EVs and grid energy storage (ANL)
The U.S. added 2.7GW of grid storage in Q2 (reN)
The E.U. lacks sufficient grid storage capacity hampering the green energy boom (EN)
Laser Photonics to supply cleantech laser cleaning technology to Hemlock Semiconductor (BW)
Carbon capture, storage, and transformation is still a popular funding theme (CB)

Renewables:

Powerchina switches on 100 MW solar tower in South Africa (PVM)
81% of renewables offer cheaper energy than fossil fuels: report (FBS)

Nuclear Fission & Fusion:

U.S. DoD breaks ground on Project Pele, a prototype mobile nuclear reactor (WNN)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves permit for first molten fluoride salt cooled nuclear reactor (MSN)
Texas' Abilene Christian Univ also cleared to build small, experimental reactor relying on molten salt for cooling (TS)
The U.S. nuclear energy landscape is changing rapidly in at least five ways (DOE)
A 20-year-old built a nuclear fusion prototype in his home for $2000 (BI)
X-Energy appoints Joel Duling as President of its TRISO-X advanced nuclear fuel unit (BW)

Hydrogen:

Spain builds world's first high-speed 'hydrail' train (FBS)
Green hydrogen market size poised to surge $165.8B by 2033 (GNW)
BMW says we need both battery and hydrogen EVs for a zero-emissions future (TC)
NASA unveils hydrogen hybrid wing airliner concept (AW)
Hydrogen becomes a battleground: EU aims to block Chinese hydrogen tech in 'resilience push' (BBG)
Construction begins on $1.5B green hydrogen project in China with H2-fired power station (HI)
German top official slams Norway for axing hydrogen pipeline (BBG)

Deal Flow:

Global Infrastructure Partners targets $3B for its new infrastructure debt fund (BBG)
Morgan Stanley raised $750M for its 1GT climate-focused PE fund (P2)
Nuclear unicorn Newcleo raises $151M from investors including Italian pension fund Inarcassa, moves headquarters to Paris (RT)
Marvel Fusion, a startup building laser-powered fusion reactors, raised a $70M Series B led by HV Capital (TC)
Geothermal energy startup Baseload Capital raised a $60M Series B led by ENGF (PU)
Houston-based Utility Global, which specializes in clean energy production, raised $53M as part of its Series C led by the Ontario Power Generation Pension Plan (BW)
Dandelion Energy closes $40M Series C led by Google's GV Management Company to provide home geothermal services (AX)
EV charging platform AmpUp raised a $15M Series A led by Touchdown Ventures (PRN)
Ayrton raises $7M led by Clean Energy Ventures and BDC Capital to tackle hydrogen transport and delivery challenges (ESGT)
German clean tech startup Spine raises $1.7M from Verbund X Ventures and Bayern Kapital to further develop software-based solutions for controlling energy-consuming devices (RN)
Earnest Partners LLC has increased its holdings in Advanced Energy Industries by 13.5% to $183M stake (MB)
Macquarie Asset Management agreed to acquire a minority stake in D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments for $1.73B (BBG)
Abu Dhabi state-owned clean energy firm Masdar will buy Spanish peer Saeta Yield from Brookfield at a $1.4B valuation (FT)
Octopus Energy Generation acquired clean energy storage developer Exagen (RT)
Diamondback Energy and Kinetik acquired a combined 30% stake in Epic Midstream unit Epic Crude (RT)
Complete Solaria won bankruptcy court approval to acquire rival SunPower's solar panel business for $45M (BBG)

Opportunities

Princeton Plasma Physics Lab needs help in replacing its XQT-1 transformer (SAM)
The Air Force's Energy Assurance Office is requesting help in assessing geologic hydrogen resource availability, extractability, and economic viability (SAM)