Another big bankruptcy

Hello,

In non-energy, and sustainability news, for the lovers of the written word generally, I’ve got two new short stories and a poem out of late, with more poems coming in May. Read em’ here, here, and here—gold star if you send thoughts back my way, particularly thoughtful criticism.

Now, on to our regularly scheduled program. Today, we’ve got news of another major climate tech bankrupcty, as well as some developing threads surrounding blowback and public resistance to AI and data center development, which has big implications for energy and climate tech generally (among plenty of other sectors). All that and more in this roundup, not to mention some more positive stuff to offset the duldrums.

ONE STORY IN A SENTENCE AND A CHART

• More than half the U.S. is now in drought, with near-record spring temperatures, a particularly pronounced drought across the Western U.S. and historically low snowpack, and Midwestern wildfires already underway. Link. Link.

NEWS, DATA, AND HEADLINES

Energy market x Iran war updates

• President Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, sending oil prices below $100 per barrel for the first time since the war began in earnest. The deal allows ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz under coordination with Iran's military, with both Iran and Oman able to collect tolls. Prices remain well above pre-war levels, and a full recovery in Gulf energy exports is expected to take months given widespread infrastructure damage and a global scattering of tanker fleets. Plus, the ceasfire already appears to be on shaky ground and WTI futures are back over $100 in the Sunday overnight trading session, at least as of this writing. We’re nowhere near out of the woods here yet, folks. Link. Link. Link.

• Average U.S. gas prices hit $4.14 per gallon this week. Diesel is up to $5.65, creeping toward the all-time record of $5.82 from 2022. Link.

• Brown University researchers estimate the Iran war has added roughly $17 billion in fuel costs to the U.S. economy so far, or about $129 per household. Link.

• The University of Michigan's preliminary April consumer sentiment index dropped to 47.6, the lowest level since records began in 1952. One-year inflation expectations jumped to 4.8% from 3.8%, while five-to-ten-year expectations rose to 3.4%. Link.

Elsewhere in energy and industry

• Battery recycling startup Ascend Elements filed for Chapter 11 despite having attracted over $1.1 billion in funding since launching in 2015. A $316 million federal grant was pulled by the Trump administration last October, compounding financial pressures. Link.

• Fervo Energy locked in a three-year deal with Turboden America for 1.75 GW of turbine capacity across its next-gen geothermal projects. Combined with the Cape Station development in Utah, which is set to begin generating power later this year, Fervo's pipeline now tops 2.2 GW, which would more than half-again the entire existing U.S. geothermal fleet. Reminder, this is one of the main companies from the past 5-7 year climate tech cohort that’s poised for and actively eyeing an an IPO. Link.

• Xcel Energy won regulatory approval in Minnesota for what would be the nation's first utility-owned virtual power plant. The $430 million Capacity*Connect program would deploy up to 200 MW of batteries in small increments across customer sites over two years, giving Xcel both an economic incentive and a framework to measure what distributed energy is actually worth to the grid, how to monetize it, and how to work with a variety of stakeholders to actually make it happen. Link.

Fission and fusion

• India's Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor achieved first fission after more than two decades of construction, joining Russia as only the second country to operate a commercial fast breeder reactor. The design converts India's abundant thorium reserves into usable fuel, long-sought step toward actual operation, though that itself remains many steps away. Link.

• China poured first concrete on a new Hualong One reactor in Zhejiang province, moving from license to construction start in just six months. Link.

• ARPA-E is committing $135 million over 18 months to fusion energy development, a record bet for the agency in this area. The move comes as Trump's 2027 budget proposes trimming the DOE's broader fusion sciences program from $805 million to $755 million. Link.

Pushback

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home was attacked twice this week, which, taken together with mounting resistance to AI in regulatory circles as well as as evidenced by another shooting incident referenced below, shows how quickly the AI and data center development narrative is spiraling out of control and sparking significant resistance (to put it mildly). Specifically, one suspect was arrested for hurling a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's residence and threatening violence outside OpenAI's San Francisco offices earlier this week. Two days later, surveillance footage captured a second apparent attack on the property: a Honda sedan stopped in front of the home early Sunday morning and a passenger appeared to fire a round at the building before fleeing. Link. Link.

• A gunman fired more than a dozen shots into an Indianapolis city councilmember's home, leaving a note on the doormat reading "no data centers." Councilmember Ron Gibson voted the previous week to approve construction of a 75 MW data center. Link.

• OpenAI also shelved its Stargate UK data center expansion over concerns about British energy costs and the regulatory environment. Other Stargate builds in the U.S., Norway, and the UAE are moving ahead, raising questions about the U.K.'s competitiveness for large-scale AI investment. Link.

• A Wisconsin city is holding what's believed to be the first-ever municipal vote on banning data center construction. Last week, we wrote about continously advancing efforts to put a moratorium on data center development in the state of Maine. Data center bans entirely are also under consideration in some jurisdictions. Link. Link.

• A community north of San Diego killed a proposed 320 MW battery installation after residents pushed back on siting large-scale energy storage near homes and within 1,600 feet of a major hospital. Developer AES withdrew its application for the project, which would have ranked among the largest standalone storage facilities in the U.S. Link.

Policy

• The EU is easing methane rules on imported gas as European governments scramble to secure alternative supply during the Iran conflict. Link.

• The EPA rolled out revisions to the Biden-era methane rules under the Clean Air Act for oil and gas producers. Administrator Lee Zeldin framed the changes as correcting regulatory overreach; others called the loosened flaring restrictions a major step backward for public health and the climate. Nothing too new to see here, folks. Link.

• New Jersey lifted its decades-old ban on new nuclear construction, becoming the sixth state in ten years, and the second in 2026, to scrap such restrictions. Governor Sherrill signed the bill at Hope Creek generating station, which together with the neighboring Salem plant delivers 40% of the state's power and the vast majority of its zero-carbon electricity. Link.

Transportation

• China's EV and hybrid exports surged 140% year over year in March to a record 349,000 units, as spiking fuel costs from the Iran conflict boosted global demand for EVs. BYD shipped roughly a third of the total, followed by Geely and Chery. Link.

• U.K. EV sales hit their highest level ever in March at 86,120 registrations, with plug-in hybrids also up 47%. Analysts attributed the surge to consumers looking to insulate themselves from volatile global fuel prices amidst the ongoing Iran war. Link.

• Tesla delivered 358,023 vehicles in Q1, short of analyst estimates but up from Q1 2025. Link.

• U.S. EV charging deployment hit new highs in 2025: DC fast charger installations jumped 46% to 23,000 ports and Level 2 networks added over 113,000. That said, the momentum is cooling; project activity in early 2026 is tracking 15% below last year through February, even as total port counts are higher, pointing to fewer but larger deployments. The demand picture has also softened: U.S. EV sales dropped 38% in Q4 2025 after the federal tax credit expired, and Q1 2026 came in at 216,399 units, down 27% year over year. Link.

• Volkswagen is pulling the plug on EV production at its Tennessee plant, pivoting the facility to gasoline models that move in higher volumes. Link.

Honorable financing mentions

• Xoople, based out of Madrid, raised €112.6 million (~$131.7 million) in a Series B to build geospatial data infrastructure that lets AI systems model and forecast physical-world changes. Nazca Capital, MCH, CDTI, Buenavista Equity Partners, and Endeavor invested. Link.

• Portal Space Systems, based out of Seattle, closed a $50 million Series A at a $250 million post-money valuation, co-led by Geodesic Capital and Mach33, to make solar thermal propulsion systems for spacecraft. Link.

• Satellites on Fire, based out of Buenos Aires, raised a $2.7 million seed round led by Dalus Capital to use satellite imagery and AI to spot wildfires in real time and model their spread. Link.

Hasta la vista,

— Nick