Funding Friday: Public Markets > Private Investment
This week’s climate‑tech financing mix shows public markets gaining traction alongside traditional venture capital. European startup REPS secured $23.6 million to embed hydraulic plates in roadways, converting braking energy into electricity. Nuclear‑reactor pioneer Deep Fission announced a Nasdaq‑bound public offering at a $1.7 billion valuation, seeking $156 million in new capital. Grid‑software firm Texture raised $12.5 million to deliver a unified operating system for utilities, while S2G Investments closed a $1 billion growth‑stage fund to fill the sector’s “missing middle.” Antora also turned on a 5 GWh thermal‑battery plant in South Dakota, backed by Australian billionaire Mike Cannon‑Brookes.
Sunnova’s Former CEO Is Bullish on Rooftop Solar Repair
Former Sunnova CEO John Berger has launched Otovo, a subscription‑based rooftop‑solar repair service, and reached 30,000 customers within three months. Two‑thirds of those users pay recurring fees of $9‑$49 per month for round‑the‑clock maintenance of solar, battery and generator systems....
Trump ‘Fabricated’ Timeline in Offshore Wind Deal, House Democrat Says
The Trump administration settled with TotalEnergies for nearly $1 billion to buy back U.S. offshore wind leases, citing a Department of War national‑security threat. House Democrats presented interior‑department emails showing a draft memorandum with Total was circulated in mid‑November, before officials...
Exclusive: Western States Form New Bipartisan Geothermal Consortium
Western governors and nonprofits have launched the Mountain West Geothermal Consortium, a bipartisan effort spanning Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The group will coordinate permitting, financing and offtake agreements to accelerate next‑generation geothermal projects, leveraging public capital to attract...
Span Is Building a New Kind of Electric Utility
Span is turning residential electrical panels into a flexible grid resource, enabling homeowners to host AI compute nodes while avoiding expensive service upgrades. The company’s XFRA “distributed data center” leverages unused capacity, and its partnership with PG&E will see Span...
How Toyota Became an EV Winner
Toyota has surged into the U.S. EV market’s third‑place slot with its bZ series, highlighted by the newly released C‑HR electric crossover. After years of lagging behind rivals, the automaker is rolling out a suite of EVs—including an updated bZ,...
Congress Proposes a $130 a Year Fee on Electric Vehicles
Congress is moving forward with a bipartisan budget proposal that would impose an annual $130 fee on battery‑electric vehicles and $35 on plug‑in hybrids, beginning September 2027. The fees would increase to $150 and $50 respectively after ten years and...
Dominion and NextEra Weigh a $400 Billion Megamerger
NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy are in advanced talks to merge, creating a utility conglomerate valued at over $400 billion. The combined entity would stretch from Dominion’s Virginia stronghold—home to a dense data‑center ecosystem—to NextEra’s Florida operations serving roughly six million...
Trump’s Tax Law Is Slowing Down Projects and Piling Up Legal Work
The Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced foreign‑entity‑of‑concern (FEOC) rules that govern eligibility for clean‑energy tax credits. Because the Treasury has not clarified how to calculate foreign debt or equity exposure, developers, investors, and banks face uncertainty about...
The Department of Energy Is Spending a Tiny Fraction of Its Money
The Department of Energy (DOE) disbursed only 2% of its FY 2025 budget, a sharp drop from the 38% spent the year before. A wave of resignations—about one in five staff—combined with a sweeping reorganization left each employee responsible for roughly...
South Carolina County Mulls Lifting Solar Ban
Berkeley County, South Carolina is weighing a lift of its 2023 solar moratorium after RWE petitioned to site a 198‑MW utility‑scale solar farm, citing a roughly 20% rise in electricity rates. At the same time, Hill County, Texas voted a...
Philanthropy Needs a New Grassroots Strategy for Clean Energy
A coalition of Wisconsin groups secured approval for the 118‑megawatt Badger Hollow wind farm after a flood of 456 public comments, emphasizing the project’s $600,000 annual revenue for local towns. The effort illustrates how targeted grassroots outreach can overcome traditional...
South Korea Is Coming to America’s Nuclear Rescue
South Korea's state‑owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) signed a memorandum of understanding with Southern Company's nuclear division to cooperate on engineering nuclear power stations. The agreement centers on technology exchanges, joint workshops and best‑practice sharing, without direct financing....
The AI Boom Needs Carbon Removal
AI’s rapid expansion is spurring a wave of new data centers that will consume up to 945 terawatt‑hours of electricity by 2030—roughly Japan’s current demand. Because gas‑turbine backlogs force many sites to rely on fast‑to‑deploy, carbon‑intensive single‑cycle turbines, a sizable share...
A Qatari Gas Tanker Passed the Strait of Hormuz
A Qatari LNG tanker, Al Kharaitiyat, became the first vessel to navigate the Strait of Hormuz since the Iran‑Israel war began, using a Tehran‑approved northern route. The transit signals a tentative reopening of a critical oil‑and‑gas corridor, easing some pressure on...