Carbon monitoring, accounting and sequestration startups are in vogue — as is raising late-stage capital via a SPAC. Plus $30M for small-scale utility and community solar.

With installers and developers needing to squeeze every kilowatt-hour out of every roof and project, racking and trackers are the unsung heroes that secure and tilt panels while maximizing output and protecting wiring and other gear.

Also in the brief: Re-retiring Maui’s 72-year-old, 38-MW oil-fired plant — by adding more solar-plus-storage. Colorado Springs Utilities plans for a 175-MW solar farm to be coupled with a 25 MW battery storage system, all built and installed by Boulder-based juwi.

Executive, career and boardroom moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy VC.

Victory in the economic realm (increasingly the case with solar, solar-plus-storage and wind) is no guarantee of market victory if the regulations are stacked against renewables.

Also in the brief: Nextracker to supply Shanghai Electric with more than 1 GW of trackers, plus Enel X, LG Chem and Smart Charge Hawaii.

Also in the brief: 67-MWdc Lotus Solar Farm in Madera County, California, developed by 8minute Solar Energy, is now fully operational. Plus First Solar’s secondary offering for the Waltons, and Natron gets $20 million for battery scale-up.

EV charging company ChargePoint is “nearing a deal to go public through a reverse merger” that could value the company at more than $2 billion.

Also in the brief: Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly want the General Assembly to pass legislation authorizing local community solar projects.

Tesla battery day is next week. Earlier this year, Musk told analysts that what he had to say “will blow your mind. It blows my mind.” Here’s a list of battery hyperbole and terms you’re bound to hear at the event.