Sunrise brief: Startup raises $200 million to back its ‘breakthrough’ energy storage battery

Also on the rise: Developers scrap an 850 MW solar project after local objection, Rivian plans a second EV plant in the U.S., Ohio regulators consider another 470 MW of solar, and more.

July 26, 2021 David Wagman

Image: Pixabay

Here’s the latest roundup of solar energy and clean tech news.

Multi-day iron-air batteries reach commercialization… at one-tenth the cost of lithium. Startup Form Energy has secured $200 million for the development of what is being called a breakthrough in energy storage.

Facing opposition, developers pull application for 850 MW solar project in the Nevada desert. Local opposition forced the action, but the same developers are moving ahead with a separate $1 billion solar-plus-storage project nearby.

Tesla Powerwalls in California join the movement to create virtual power plants. Made up of distributed residential energy storage, these “plants” stabilize the grid and often end the need for new fossil generation.

Rivian plans second plant to produce EV trucks and batteries. The Amazon-backed automaker is exploring U.S. locations to produce its electric truck and battery cells.

Ohio regulators consider another 470 MW of solar. The Clearview Solar I project and the Union Solar project are both set to have hearings in mid-August, bringing the total amount of utility scale solar proposed or approved this summer to 1,938 MW.

Storage paired with solar shows steady growth, Berkeley Lab says. The report pegged the cost of adding storage to PV on the order of $700-1,300/kWh of storage capacity and the present-value benefit to the host customer of roughly $500-1,000/kWh.

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