1. Hydropower tech that works on any terrain

Learning: “Traditional pumped storage hydropower (PSH) sites pump water from one reservoir to another further uphill, letting the water flow back downhill to the lower reservoir to power turbines when energy is needed. But these kinds of systems require one key component: steep, mountainous terrain. The aptly named Zero Terrain, by contrast, can deploy its technology virtually anywhere, even on totally flat land.”

Implication: “The… startup achieves this with its storage solution that situates the lower hydro reservoir underground, with the second, higher reservoir sitting on land. The energy storage and generation process works the same as traditional hydropower sites, just without the need for a high incline.

Zero Terrain locates a suitable area 750 meters inside the rocks of the Earth’s crystalline basement to situate its system of pipes, reservoirs, and turbine rooms. The rock that’s excavated in the process can then also be sold to generate extra income and reduce reliance on imported alternatives.

In March this year, Zero Terrain signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Estonian Ministry of Climate to implement its solution and build what’s reportedly the country’s first long-duration energy storage project, called the Zero Terrain Paldiski. Construction is set to start next year, and once operational, the site should be able to generate six gigawatt-hours of energy for the grid over a 12-hour cycle.”

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2. Siemens’ free web tool aims to simplify decarbonization for commercial, industrial businesses

Learning: “Siemens Financial Services has launched a cloud-based tool to help building owners and operators simplify their efforts to decarbonize buildings and access the financing they need to reach net-zero emissions.”

Implication: “The Decarbonization Business Optimizer is a free digital tool that provides baseline carbon assessments based on the location, type and size of commercial and industrial facilities, SFS said in a news release Tuesday. The DBO considers site-specific data, such as annual energy use or load profile, if available, to maximize the accuracy of its estimates and can generate decarbonization scenarios tailored to users’ preferences for specific technologies, resilience to grid outages and budget considerations, while providing a summary of estimated returns on investment, the company said.”

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3. GGRF doles out first loan for solar project in Arkansas

Learning: “The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), the national green bank program created by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), selected a handful of nonprofit consortiums in April to administer the $20 billion program…  Climate United announced what is both its first investment and the first project financed by GGRF: a $31.8 million loan for Scenic Hill Solar, a Little Rock, Arkansas–based solar developer.”

Implication: “That money will provide pre-construction financing for solar installations that will help lower the utility bills and carbon footprint of the University of Arkansas System. At 66 megawatts across 16 sites, the project will be the largest commercial solar deployment in Arkansas and the fourth-largest university renewable energy deployment in the country.”

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4. MIT’s list of 15 climate tech companies to watch

Learning: “We need to find new ways to generate electricity, move people and goods, produce food, and weather the challenging conditions made worse in a warming world.”

Implication: “The good news is that we already have many of the tools we need to take those actions, and companies are constantly bringing new innovations to the market.”

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5. Hybrid power plants account for majority of proposed US solar, storage capacity

Learning: ”Hybrid power plants comprised 55.2% of active bulk solar capacity and 51.7% of active bulk energy storage capacity in the U.S. interconnection queue at the end of 2023, according to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory briefing… LBNL limited its analysis to plants with capacity greater than 1 MW.”

Implication: “Solar-plus-storage facilities represented more than 92% of proposed hybrid bulk power plants and 86% of known hybrid bulk generation capacity in the U.S. interconnection queue as of year-end 2023, according to the briefing. The queue had 2,532 bulk solar-plus-storage proposals totaling approximately 575.5 GW of generating capacity at that time, with about 95% requesting to come online by 2029.

Proposed wind-plus-storage and wind-solar-and-storage facilities were a distant second and third, accounting respectively for 5% (35.3 GW) and 4% (26.2 GW) of generating capacity across 80 and 48 projects.”