🌱 Weekly Debrief: Renewables delayed ☀️

Weekly debrief for 3/1/23

March 02, 2023

Happy Friday!

Welcome to this week’s debrief of all things climate business, tech, and policy.

Time to unpack…

  • Bureaucracy and decaying infrastructure are slowing down solar deployments

  • Vertical farming startups struggling to survive

  • BlocPower raises $155M for all-electric building retrofits

Thanks for reading!

🎯 NEWS THAT MATTERS

Insights and trends across key climate sectors like energy, transportation, food, and more.

📈 BIG BUSINESS

The volume of renewable energy projects waiting for permission to connect to electric grids in the US has overwhelmed the nation's antiquated systems, causing delays that can drag on for years and leaving some developers to walk away. More than 8,100 energy projects, mostly wind, solar, and batteries, were waiting for permission at the end of 2021.

The waste management company announced a partnership with Oshkosh Corp. to expand the number of electric trucks across its fleet. The company plans for electric vehicles to make up half of its new truck purchases by 2028 and will roll out a pair of automated side-load prototypes in Phoenix this fall.

Total solar generation broke through 200,000 GWh for the year. The record deployment volumes of 2020 and 2021 are the main factors behind this increase. If it were not for ongoing solar panel import difficulties and general inflation, solar’s contribution to electricity generation might have reached 5% in 2022.

REI has introduced new environmental standards for its suppliers, including a requirement for vendors to phase out the use of "forever chemicals," or PFAS, from cookware and textiles. REI previously received a low score on PFAS in its clothing from the Natural Resources Defense Council and has been working for years to phase out the use of PFAS in its products.

Rivian is experiencing financial difficulties and struggling with demand for its vehicles, with executives leaving the company. Analysts predict the company will announce a Q4 loss of up to $2 billion. Its stock price has dropped around 75% over the past 12 months.

🏛 POLICY & POLITICS

The EU has successfully reduced its reliance on Russian fossil fuels through economic sanctions, but has been unable to do the same with nuclear energy. Soviet-built reactors in the EU remain dependent on tailor-made fuel from Russia.

The US has launched its first hydrogen plant powered by nuclear energy. Constellation Energy begins a pilot project that combines an electrolyzer with its Nine Mile Point nuclear plant in upstate New York. The company plans to start producing at least 30,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year by 2026.

🚀 SOCIETY & IMPACT

The rise in demand for electric vehicles as a way to cut carbon emissions has led to an increased demand for minerals used in their production, such as cobalt and nickel. The current global trend will double mineral demand over the next two decades, and the Paris climate accord will require far more minerals than present amounts.

Ski resorts in Europe, North America, and Asia have been forced to rely on artificial snowmaking due to less snowfall and rising temperatures. The costs of operating ski resorts with artificial snow have become more expensive as energy costs have risen, making it challenging for many resorts to operate sustainably.

🚀 TECH & STARTUPS

Despite attracting $1.7 billion of investment, indoor farms remain expensive to build and run, with some farms costing tens of millions of dollars. While they offer benefits such as using 90% less water than traditional farms, avoiding outbreaks of disease, and reducing pesticides and fertilizers, competing on price is challenging.

Divert Inc., an impact technology firm that aims to reduce food waste and combat climate change, has signed a $1 billion infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge Inc., a Canadian energy company. The deal includes $80 million in growth equity from Enbridge and $20 million from Ara Partners, Divert’s existing investor.

💰NEW FUNDING

The latest funding and grants for promising climate tech startups.

BlocPower, a New York-based start-up that converts low and moderate-income housing units from burning fossil fuels to low-carbon electricity for heating, has raised over $150m in new debt and equity financing to expand its electrification business. The new funding has brought the total raised to just under $250m.

OYA Renewables, a solar company and renewable energy power producer, raised $71m.

Ample utilizes autonomous robotics and smart-battery technology to solve energy delivery challenges for electric transportation, raised $15m grant.

Industrial Sun offers comprehensive and cost-saving solar development capabilities tailored to serve customers, raised $90m.

PiLi biofabricates a sustainable alternative to create renewable inks to replace their toxic, non-biological, and non-recyclable versions, raises $15.8m.

😎 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Must-reads, listens, and cool projects from the climate community 

Building Out the Climate Capital Stack via Albert Wenger at Union Square Ventures

The Carbon Removal Alliance launched with founding members including Charm Industrial, Climeworks, Heirloom, Stripe, and more.

Decarbonization: The long view, trends and transience, net zero via Nathaniel Bullard. Don’t want to go through a 140 slide deck? Check out Canary Media’s Catalyst episode on it here.

A great deep dive on the job distribution of climate via Maddy Bell 👇🏼

A long and science-heavy thread on “climate tipping elements” via Seaver Wang 👇🏼