electrical grid

Tesla alum’s Heron Power closes $38M Series A to transform key grid technology

Climate /

Heron Power, the electrical grid-focused startup founded by former Tesla executive Drew Baglino, announced Thursday it has raised $38 million in a Series A funding round. Heron Power is developing solid-state transformers, which promise to be more compact and responsive than the century-old analog models. Transformers are key parts of the electrical grid, stepping voltage […]

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Volteras wants to connect to more EVs than anyone else

Fundraising /

For years, people have been worried — both rightly and otherwise — that electric vehicles could strain the grid to the breaking point. But as they spread, and as EV technology advances, some think these rolling battery packs could become a lifeline for the United States’ aging electrical system. “In the future, the electric vehicle will

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Gridcare thinks more than 100 MW of data center capacity is hiding in the grid

Climate /

Hyperscalers and data center developers are in a pickle: They all want to add computing power tomorrow, but utilities frequently play hard to get, citing years-long waits for grid connections. “All the AI data centers are struggling to get connected,” Amit Narayan, founder and CEO of Gridcare, told TechCrunch. “They’re so desperate. They are looking

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Gridcare thinks more than 100 GW of data center capacity is hiding in the grid

Fundraising /

Hyperscalers and data center developers are in a pickle: They all want to add computing power tomorrow, but utilities frequently play hard to get, citing years-long waits for grid connections. “All the AI data centers are struggling to get connected,” Amit Narayan, founder and CEO of Gridcare, told TechCrunch. “They’re so desperate. They are looking

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XL Batteries is using petrochemical infrastructure to store solar and wind power

Climate /

Plenty of materials — from sulfur and sodium to manganese and organic molecules — have tried to topple the ubiquitous lithium-ion battery. And, so far, they’ve all failed. Organic batteries, which are built from some of the most abundant chemicals here on Earth, including carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, has been perhaps the most frustrating failure.

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Former Tesla exec Drew Baglino’s new startup is rethinking the electrical transformer

Climate /

Former Tesla executive Drew Baglino has a new startup developing solid-state transformers for the electric grid, Axios reported. The new company, Heron Power, is raising between $30 million to $50 million for a Series A, according to the report, with Capricorn Investment Group pegged to lead the round. Baglino was a longtime employee at Tesla,

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Nvidia thinks AI can solve electrical grid problems caused by AI

AI /

Nvidia announced Thursday it’s partnering with EPRI, a power industry R&D organization, to use AI to solve problems facing the the electrical grid. Perhaps ironically, the issues are largely caused by rising power demand from AI itself. The Open Power AI Consortium, which includes a number of electrical utilities and tech companies, says it will use

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Solar crushed 2024, but emissions were up as industry used more natural gas

Climate /

The U.S. invested a record-breaking $338 billion in the energy transition last year, according to a new report, but it wasn’t quite enough to lessen the country’s overall carbon emissions. Solar took the lead, adding 49 gigawatts of new electrical generating capacity in 2024, far more than any other technology. Solar and wind together now

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