Technology and R&D

Batteries have won the lion’s share of recent cleantech venture capital — but here are some recent funding rounds for fusion, graphene, electrical panels, circuit breakers, geothermal drilling and direct-air capture of CO2.

Also in the brief: The never ending saga of Arkansas utilities battling their 2,320 net metering customers, Atom Power raises $17.8 million for a solid-state circuit breaker for commercial and industrial buildings.

Direct-air capture, along with its mythic sisters, clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration, is a process where CO2 from fossil generators and industrial sources is captured, treated and injected into underground earth formations for permanent storage or for industrial use.

Startup Point Load Power is looking to create the market for rooftop trackers, claiming that the company’s PV Booster, paired with bifacial modules, can generate 70% more energy per panel than ordinary racking.

Recently approved solar PPAs could spell trouble for proponents of retrofitting the state’s San Juan Generating Station to capture the coal-fired plant’s carbon dioxide emissions.

PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), a test lab for the downstream solar market, just published its PV Module Reliability Scorecard. The lab notes the high level of innovation in the solar module industry and namechecks the market’s reliability leaders — but also observed a resurgence of known failure mechanisms — such as PID.

Also in the brief: Green hydrogen in Denmark, North Dakota solar on tribal lands, Lime Rock New Energy raises $600 million in growth equity focused on renewable energy tech.

Sinn Power of Gauting, Germany combines wave, wind and solar power for the “first floating ocean hybrid platform.”

The startup claims to be “the world’s top supplier of graphene” and plans to release a non-flammable, environmentally friendly lithium battery that can charge “18 times faster than anything that is currently available on the market” — within the next year.

Researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have launched the first orbital experiment with space-based solar power. They launched a 12-inch square photovoltaic module that is expected to test the viability of space-based solar power systems converting sunlight to microwaves outside the atmosphere.