Keeling Capital

Commonwealth Fusion Systems announces location for first 400MW grid-connected power plant in Virginia, collaborating with Dominion Energy, aiming to deliver electricity in "the early 2030s". The successful completion of this depends on hurdle some significant milestones in the interim, specifically successfully achieving net positive energy from their next scale up SPARC, which is aiming for first plasma in 2026. https://lnkd.in/dKUQckyn

Net Power and Carbon TerraVault announce collaboration to develop an initial 1GW (4x 250MW) of zero-carbon baseload power in California, using Net Power's Allam Cycle technology (uses pure CO2 as working fluid) and Carbon TerraVault's sequestration expertise. https://lnkd.in/eJcR6dzn

Meta to build $10bn data centre in Louisiana. "To power the data center, which at its largest point extends more than one mile from front to back, Entergy will add clean, efficient power plants to its system to meet growing power demands, including from the data center. Meta has pledged to match its electricity use with 100% clean and renewable energy and will be working with Entergy to bring at least 1,500 MW of new renewable energy to the grid through its Geaux Zero program." https://lnkd.in/gh2fxZZ5

Meta launched RFP for nuclear: "Our aim is to add 1-4 GW of new nuclear generation capacity in the U.S. to be delivered starting in the early 2030s. We are looking to identify developers that can help accelerate the availability of new nuclear generators and create sufficient scale to achieve material cost reductions by deploying multiple units, both to provide for Meta’s future energy needs and to advance broader industry decarbonization." https://lnkd.in/gEqsEdSU

"It’s perhaps more appropriate to think of the lithium-ion battery not as a single invention, but as a slow, steady accumulation of many inventions that were needed to both make a battery practical and to unlock its full potential." This is perhaps true of all world-changing inventions - it requires a huge amount of iteration to turn innovation into a product that works and begets positive feedback loops. https://lnkd.in/eP3PmpXg

$1.5-2trn over next 5 years just to stand still. Might just be a good commercial opportunity in the grid....

The White House releases plan to add 200GW of new nuclear to the US fleet by 2050 with two interim targets: - 35GW of nuclear by 2035 - a sustained run rate of 15GW by 2040 This was presaged by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s pathway to commercial lift-off report. https://lnkd.in/dZyj6zKk

Pacific Fusion comes out of stealth having been founded in summer 2023 with a $900mm funding commitment from high profile fund and individual investors. The funding is committed but dispersed in line with the company reaching technical milestones. This is the biggest funding round for a fusion company since Commonwealth Fusion System's $1.8bn megaround right at the top of the market. Pacific Fusion is using an pulsed magnetic inertial confinement approach using a deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel. https://lnkd.in/eng6JKFT

Keeling's underlying port co Ebb Carbon (via Evok Innovations) signs large CDR offtake contract with Microsoft using their ocean alkalinity enhancement technology.

Last month I had the pleasure - and terrific fun - of doing a panel at the AGM of At One Ventures with Laurie Menoud and Pulakesh Mukherjee - "Can climate tech finally succeed?" We covered a lot of ground - what sectors are over/under hyped? What are the trends within the climate tech funds market? What are the main risks that could undo the current climate tech wave? Highlights of that conversation here: https://lnkd.in/e_FU6yH2