Rolling coal

Hey there,

Hope all you U.S.-based W2 warriors enjoyed the long weekend for Labor Day. And for the rest of youz… well, back to work anywho. For my part, I put in ~1,000 miles in my new (old) truck to visit Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, and more. Quite a good time, even as I logged “hard miles,” as a buddy of mine puts it, in 105° midday heat with no aircon in the car. One could say I’m standing in solidarity with the Europeans on the no AC front; really, I just privileged engine and engineering quality, aesthetics, and a manual transmission in my car purchasing decisions.

Onwards—here’s everything that caught my eye last week:

ONE STORY IN A SENTENCE AND A CHART

• Starting with some good news: African countries imported a record 15+ gigawatts of Chinese solar panels over the past year, a 60% increase, with 20 countries setting new import records. Link.

NEWS, DATA, AND HEADLINES

• On to the not so great news: China brought online 19 gigawatts of new coal-fired power capacity in the first half of 2025, the highest first six months of any year since 2016, underscoring the country's continued reliance on fossil fuels despite also leading clean energy investment globally. Remember, more than 60% of global coal consumption, which is still at all-time highs, stems from Chinese and Indian demand (where a third of the world’s population lives, for reference). Link.

• Global greenhouse gas emissions reached 31 billion tons of CO2-equivalent in the first half of 2025, a slight rise from 2024 at a time when steep cuts are needed to limit maximal global warming and meet various national and international goals, according to Climate TRACE research coalition. Link.

• Global renewable energy investment hit a fresh record in the first half of 2025 at $386 billion, driven primarily by wind and solar projects, despite falling investments in utility-scale solar due to revenue concerns and curtailment issues. Meanwhile, U.S. renewable energy investment fell 36% ($20.5 billion) in the first half of 2025 compared to late 2024, marking the steepest drop of any country as developers rushed to secure tax credits before policy changes. The U.S. wasn't among the world's top-five wind markets for the first time since 2016. Link. Link.

• A record 75 gigawatts of new generating capacity connected to the U.S. power grid in 2024, a 33% lift from the previous year, thanks to federal regulations streamlining interconnection processes. Solar and storage made up 75% of all agreements, totaling about 58 gigawatts, according to Wood Mackenzie analysis. Link.

• BYD, based out of Shenzhen, China, outsold Tesla in Europe for July, moving 9,700 units versus Tesla's 6,600 - a 206% year-over-year increase for BYD, while Tesla dropped 42%. The Chinese automaker credited its success to offering a wider variety of vehicles compared to Tesla's limited European lineup. Link.

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved plans to restart the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa by 2029, marking the second U.S. nuclear facility to receive restart approval after Palisades in Michigan. NextEra Energy will operate the single-reactor facility, which was shuttered in 2020 due to financial challenges but is now viable due to surging electricity demand. Link.

• China recently showcased a new solar farm projected to become the world's largest when completed, covering 235 square miles - roughly the size of Chicago. Despite contracting renewables investment in H1 2025, China still accounted for 44% of global new investment. Link.

• Volkswagen surpassed 1.5 million unit sales for all of its electric ID. models. Link.

• Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize announced plans to create the Great Mayan Jungle Biocultural Corridor, a 14+ million-acre nature reserve that would become the second largest in the Americas behind the Amazon. The initiative aims to push out criminal gangs while protecting land from ranchers, miners, and loggers. Link.

• Welcome, Inertia Enterprises: Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson teamed up with fusion scientists Andrea Kritcher and Michael Dunne to launch a new nuclear fusion startup aimed at commercializing breakthroughs from the Energy Department's National Ignition Facility. The company licensed 200 patents from Lawrence Livermore National Labs. Link.

• Ormat, the nation’s leading / established geothermal energy developer based out of Reno, Nevada, partnered with Houston-based Sage Geosystems to build the first commercial enhanced geothermal plant using fracking technology at an existing Ormat facility in Nevada or Utah. The partnership could bring the plant online by 2026, significantly accelerating next-generation geothermal deployment timelines. Link.

• Frontier, the corporate carbon removal consortium, announced $31.3 million in offtake deals with ocean alkalinity enhancement startup Planetary for 115,211 tons of CO2 removal between 2026 and 2030. The agreement represents Frontier's confidence in Planetary's method of boosting marine CO2 absorption. Link.

• PSE Healthy Energy released a Methane Risk Map visualizing methane leaks and associated toxic pollutants like benzene and toluene from oil and gas infrastructure. The tool shows that hazardous air pollutant levels from super-emitter events often exceed state regulatory benchmarks for surrounding communities. Link.

• European carmakers urged the European Commission to revisit plans to phase out fossil fuel-powered vehicles by the mid-2030s, saying combustion engine bans are no longer realistic. Industry lobby groups cited current market conditions as making the transition timeline unfeasible. Link.

• Taiwan's referendum to reopen its last nuclear power plant failed to reach the necessary threshold (25% of registered electors), despite majority support. The failure raises energy security concerns as Taiwan imports 98% of its energy, mostly natural gas and coal. Link.

• North Carolina's Republican legislature overrode Governor Josh Stein's veto to pass Senate Bill 266, erasing Duke Energy's 2030 mandate to cut carbon emissions by 70%. The utility can now potentially build 12 fewer gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2035 and rely more heavily on aging fossil fuel plants. Link.

• President Trump's Interior Department moved to revoke permits for US Wind's Maryland offshore wind project after halting construction of Ørsted's nearly complete Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island recently. These actions mark an even further escalation in the administration's assault on coastal wind development. Link.

• New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte signed legislation removing the state's mandate to support offshore wind development and dissolved offshore workforce training programs. The move marks a retreat from previous Republican Governor Chris Sununu's offshore wind support, showing that renewable energy isn’t always a cut-and-dry Republican vs. Democrat debate in the U.S. It also leaves New Hampshire as the only coastal New England state not challenging Trump's offshore wind executive order. Link.

• Mitsubishi Corp. also withdrew from three offshore wind projects in Japan, dealing a blow to the country's struggling offshore wind industry as it grapples with slow progress and rising costs. Link.

• The Trump admin began rolling back logging protections from over 44 million acres of national forest land, proposing to undo a 25-year-old rule banning road construction and timber harvesting on federally controlled forests, much of it in Alaska. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds:

• Commonwealth Fusion Systems, based out of Devens, Massachusetts, raised $863 million in Series B2 extension funding to complete its fusion energy demo project and advance work on its first commercial power plant in Virginia. New investors include Nvidia's NVentures, legendary hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller, and Dubai-based FFA Private Bank, bringing total funding to approximately $3 billion. Link.

Medium-sized funding rounds:

• OpenLight, based out of Santa Clara, California, raised a $34 million Series A round co-led by Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group for its silicon-based photonic chips that use light instead of electricity to move data more efficiently. Mayfield, Juniper Networks, and other investors also participated. Link.

• Copper, based out of Berkeley, California, secured $28 million in Series A funding led by Prelude Ventures to scale its battery-equipped induction ranges and develop new appliances. The company has shipped roughly 1,000 units and holds a multiyear contract with NYC Housing Authority for 10,000 ranges. Building Ventures and existing investors participated. Link.

• Reframe Systems, based out of Boston, Massachusetts, closed a $20 million Series A co-led by Eclipse and VoLo Earth Ventures to scale its automated microfactories that use robotics to construct homes 2.5x faster with 35% lower costs and (purportedly) 10x fewer greenhouse gas emissions. The company aims to build 1 million homes by 2045. Link.

• Deftpower, based out of Arnhem, Netherlands, raised €12.5 million (~$14.6 million) in funding led by Endeit Capital for its EV charging platform. 4impact Capital, Proeza Ventures, and other investors participated. Link.

• Splight, based out of San Francisco, California, raised a $12.4 million SAFE round led by Blue Bear Capital for its machine learning platform that increases transmission capacity of existing electric grids for utilities and renewable developers. Zoma Capital also participated. Link.

• Terraton, based out of San Francisco, California, secured an $11.5 million seed round co-led by Lowercarbon Capital and Gigascale Capital for its biochar facilities that turn agricultural waste into carbon-storing fertilizer. The company also employs a franchise-style system to work with local partners and source biochar. Link.

• NuCicer, based out of Davis, California, closed an $11.5 million Series A led by Rhapsody Venture Partners to scale its high-protein chickpea varieties and advance next-generation breeding for sustainable ingredients. Leaps by Bayer also participated. Link.

• ICEYE, based out of Espoo, Finland, raised €9.38 million (~$11 million) from Vinci Fund for its synthetic aperture radar satellites that provide Earth observation data for defense, climate research, and agriculture applications. Link.

• Bright Harbor, based out of the United States, raised a $10.1 million seed round co-led by Congruent Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital for its post-disaster recovery operating system. Link.

Smaller funding rounds

• AiGent, based out of Houston, Texas, secured a $6 million seed round co-led by ZIP and CIV to develop AI-powered distributed power plants designed to improve electric grid reliability and resilience. Link.

• Yottar, based out of the United Kingdom, raised a $1 million pre-seed round led by Haatch to expand its platform that maps electrical grid capacity for organizations seeking to connect data centers, EV chargers, and other types of load. Cape Capital also participated. Link.

• Bright Saver, based out of San Francisco, California, raised $500,000 from TrueVentures.org and individual backers for its nonprofit plug-in solar systems with very low wattage that avoid power export regulations. The company has sold dozens of systems with a 1,500-person waitlist. Link.

Not saying how much rounds

• everwave, based out of Aachen, Germany, closed its largest growth financing round from Viessmann Generations Group and other investors to expand AI-supported river cleanup and recycling operations into Southeast Asia. Link.

Funds

• BDC, based out of Montréal, Canada, a government-owned VC firm, raised its second Industrial Innovation Venture Fund totaling $200 million to back Canadian startups in ag-tech, food-tech, advanced manufacturing, and critical minerals. Link.

Podcasts

I have not one, but three new podcasts out with various stellar voices across the venture capital space who offered perspective on the current moment for sustainability and energy-focused startups in 2025, as well as a wide range of other niche and nuanced subjects ranging from methane moonshots to “demand focused” adaptation ventures.

The most recent guests include John Tough, Managing Partner of Energize Capital, Johanna Wolfson, co-founder and General Partner at Azolla Ventures, and Darren Clifford, Founder and Managing Partner at the newly formed Adapt[us] Capital. You can listen to any and all of them here on Apple Podcasts or wherever else you normally listen.

One shot

Here’s a photo from Monument Valley I took on Sunday:

Bye,

— Nick