Edition 2026-07-28 · Covering July 20 to July 26, 2026
Grid iron and the second battery wave
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Read what happens in climate tech, and watch where the wind blows
SIROCCO · Money In
Where the money went
Eleven rounds, and the largest three were all electrons rather than molecules.
- $420M
FerrovoltBatteries
The iron-air storage maker closed a Series C to finance its first gigafactory in Ohio, with two utilities pre-committing to eight-hour discharge contracts before the line is cold-tested.
Read more → - $180M
HelioscapeSolar
Interconnection-queue software, of all things, drew a growth round: Helioscape says it has moved 14 GW of projects through study phases faster than the utilities' own tooling.
Read more → - $96M
Cinder CarbonCarbon
A biochar-to-cement play with an unusually boring pitch: it sells a cheaper clinker substitute and books the removal credit as upside rather than the business.
Read more → - $54M
Qbit ThermalQuantum
Quantum-assisted materials search for heat-pump refrigerants. The chemistry is speculative; the customer list, three appliance makers, is not.
Read more → - $12M
NorthlatticeGrid
Reconductoring crews as a service. Unglamorous, capacity-constrained, and the fastest way to add transmission this decade.
Read more →
BORA · Building
What got built
Four things left the slide deck this week and touched the ground.
- 🔥
Arc FoundrySteel
First heat at the electric steel plant in Trollhättan, 90 tonnes, off wind power, twenty months after ground was broken.
Read more → - 🌊
TidewaveMarine
A four-turbine tidal array went live in the Pentland Firth and is exporting at 88% of modeled yield, which is the first honest number the sector has published in years.
Read more → - 🔌
VerdantVPP
Launched a residential VPP in Texas that dispatches without an app: the thermostat just decides, and the bill credit shows up.
Read more → - ✈️
Clearsky FuelsSAF
Hit 10,000 tonnes cumulative synthetic jet fuel, a milestone that matters mostly because the offtake contract steps up in price above it.
Read more →
ETESIAN · The Pattern
The pattern
Storage duration is the new unit of ambition.
Duration creepAnalysis
Three of this week's five largest rounds were pitched on discharge duration rather than cost per kilowatt-hour. A year ago the deck said $/kWh; now it says hours. That reframe follows the tariffs: utilities are procuring firmness, and capital has noticed before the trade press has.
Read more →
HARMATTAN · Caught
Caught
One number that does not survive its own footnote.
Atlas OffsetsClaims
Announced "1 million tonnes removed." The methodology annex counts contracted future delivery through 2031. Delivered to date: 41,000 tonnes. The press release does not say so; page 14 does.
Read more →
LEVANTE · On the Calendar
On the calendar
Dates worth holding over the next fortnight.
- Aug 4
FERC interconnection orderPolicy
Final rule expected on cluster-study deadlines. Directly prices Helioscape's whole thesis.
Read more → - Aug 11
EU CBAM reporting windowPolicy
Second definitive-period filing closes. First test of whether importers can actually source verified emissions data.
Read more → - Aug 12 to 15
Utility Q2 callsMarkets
Four IOUs report. Watch capex guidance on distribution, not generation.
Read more →
Elsewhere this week
Elsewhere
Also worth knowing this week.
Datacenter siting rulesCompute
Two US states moved to make large loads pay for their own interconnection upgrades. Every grid-adjacent business model in this edition is downstream of that decision.
Read more →Copper contangoCommodities
Copper's forward curve steepened again. Cable, not cells, is now the long pole in most of these build-outs.
Read more →