Happy Monday!
US voters head to the polls next Tuesday, and energy is swinging more than a few races. We break down what’s at stake and which sectors stand to gain or lose.
In deals, $108m for sodium-ion energy storage in California; $34m for smart water heater controls and grid flexibility in France; and $32m for panel-integrated solar power electronics in California.
In other news, Google expanded its PJM virtual power plant deal with Voltus tenfold, The Nuclear Company unveiled a six-reactor plant, and Lula won a fourth term in Brazil.
And don't miss the free, virtual SOSV Deep Tech Summit November 4-6, featuring speakers from Gigascale, DCVC, Khosla, X-energy, Brimstone, Rondo, CTVC's own Kim Zou, and more. Register here.
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Next Tuesday, US voters will head to the polls to fill 35 Senate seats, all 435 House seats, and 36 governorships. And energy and climate are showing up across the ballot: in gas prices, in electricity bills, in local data center siting fights, an overhaul of energy project permitting, and more. Let’s get our ducks in a row on what’s at stake.
With Trump holding the veto through 2028, federal energy policy can only shift so much, but Congress is up for grabs. Republicans hold the Senate 53-47, so Democrats need a net gain of four seats, and forecasters say at least that many are toss-ups, while Democrats need just a net gain of three seats to take back the House, where forecasters expect them to succeed.
Before new members take their seats, the outgoing Congress returns November 9 for the lame-duck session, and the election results will shape how much it tries to pass before January.
🦆 Lame duck
⏭️ Next Congress
Governors and utility regulators decide where data centers get built, who pays for the grid, and which power plants can get built at all. Governors will be at the forefront of data center policy discussions in 2027, and 36 seats are up next week.
The IRA drove much of the early 2020s clean energy buildout, but the Trump administration has since reversed course with OBBB credit phaseouts and DOE grant/loan cancellations. In this next phase, the AI buildout is setting the agenda: how much power it needs, what kind, and who pays.
Statehouses and utility commissions now hold most of those levers, and bipartisan data center backlash is already adding conditions on siting, interconnection, and cost allocation. Currence data shows that Ohio and Georgia, where candidates are campaigning on data center halts and utility rates, have a large proportion of announced or under construction data centers. Their results could set the terms for much of the pipeline.
🔋 Peak Energy, a Burlingame, CA-based developer of passively cooled sodium-ion energy storage, raised $108m in Series B funding from GM Ventures, Eclipse, Infinite Capital, LG Technology Ventures, Maverick Silicon, and other investors.
🏠 Elax Energie, a Paris, France-based smart water heater control and grid flexibility platform, raised $34m in Seed funding from Crédit Mutuel Impact and Noria Invest.
☀️ Optivolt, a San Francisco, CA-based panel-integrated solar power electronic developer, raised $32m in Series A funding from VXI Capital, Atlas Innovate, RA Capital Management, and Valo Ventures.
⚡ Hephaestus Technologies, a London, England-based fusion energy and HTS superconductor developer, raised $17m in Seed funding from Ciri Ventures, Climate Capital, Prescience Ventures, Teampact Ventures, and Unruly Capital.
🌾 IMIO, a Chicago, IL-based agricultural biologicals manufacturer, raised $12m in Seed funding from Sofinnova Partners, Cultivate Next, Earth Foundry, Nextwave X Partners, Serra Ventures, and Starshot Capital.
🌾 Electric Plant, a San Francisco, CA-based AI plant health monitoring developer, raised $11m in Seed funding from Onto Ventures, Climactic, Endeavor Catalyst, Ludlow Ventures, Michigan Rise, and other investors.
⚡ Veckta, a San Diego, CA-based onsite energy procurement marketplace platform, raised $11m in Series A funding from Origin Ventures, Catalyst by Wellstar, Cove Fund, Emerald Bay Ventures, Engage, and other investors.
🏠 Pascal, a Watertown, MA-based solid refrigerant technology developer, raised $9m in Seed funding from Sazze Partners, LB Investment, and KDB Silicon Valley.
🏠 Linkener, a Valencia, Spain-based energy management platform, raised $8m in Seed funding from Klima and GoHub Ventures.
⚡ Pivot Energy, a Denver, CO-based distributed solar and storage independent power producer, raised $500m in Debt funding from Nuveen Energy Infrastructure Credit (Nuveen EIC).
☀️ Navitas Solar, a Surat, India-based solar module manufacturer, raised $20m in Debt funding from responsAbility Investments.
⚡ Lodestone Energy, an Auckland, New Zealand-based utility-scale solar developer, went public via IPO, raising $43m.
🔋 Forge Nano, a Thornton, CO-based developer of nano-coating for lithium-ion batteries and semiconductors, went public via a SPAC merger with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners II.
🥩 Allplants, a London, England-based plant-based prepared meals provider, was acquired by Fleury Michon for an undisclosed amount.
💧 H2O Degree, a Bensalem, PA-based wireless submetering and leak detection platform, was acquired by Metron for an undisclosed amount.
⚡ Sonnen, a Wildpoldsried, Germany-based residential smart energy storage provider, filed for Bankruptcy.
🏭 Blackstone, a New York, NY-based investment firm, closed $8.7bn for Blackstone Energy Transition Partners V, to make control-oriented equity investments in energy-related businesses across power generation and transmission, energy equipment, and data center infrastructure.
🍁 Inovia Capital, a Montreal, Canada-based venture firm, announced the first close of $200m for Fund VI, to back seed to Series A AI-native startups in North America and Europe across energy, compute, infrastructure, robotics, cybersecurity, and quantum.
🧭 Nauta Capital, a Barcelona, Spain-based venture firm, announced the first close of $70m for Nauta Tech Invest VI, to back pre-seed to Series A European B2B software and deeptech companies.
This is a sample of deals available for Currence clients. Can’t get enough deals?
⚡ Google expanded its June PJM deal with Voltus tenfold, adding 1,070MW of distributed batteries, thermostats, and flexible load under a contract through 2040. [Link]
The deal comes weeks after Voltus raised a $225m Series D and FERC rejected PJM’s Interim Resource Adequacy Service, which had excluded VPPs from the capacity market. The 2040 term, though, lets battery owners sign on without taking merchant price risk.
☢️ The Nuclear Company unveiled Prosperity One, a 6.6GW plant with six Westinghouse AP1000s on a greenfield site in Kentucky, targeting construction in 2028. [Link]
Vogtle came in at more than double its original budget, so a six-unit build bets on Westinghouse’s learning curve. It also borrows China’s fleet playbook, to standardize one design and build it in multiples at a single site.
🌳 Brazil's Lula won a fourth term on October 25, taking 51.8% of the runoff vote after losing the first round to Flávio Bolsonaro by 2.2m votes. Flávio refused to concede and says he’ll seek to annul the result, and Brazilian assets sold off on the surprise. [Link]
Lula has built his reputation as Brazil’s environmental president, among other things, and his record backs it up. Amazon clearing just hit its lowest year on record, after falling roughly three-quarters in each of his terms and rising under Jair Bolsonaro in between. [Link]
🔌 DOE committed $200m in Defense Production Act funds to transmission, including $50m for reconductoring and dynamic line rating in Virginia and West Virginia. [Link]
The DPA, usually for critical goods, is paying directly for infrastructure after Trump declared the grid a national defense threat in April. Washington's treating energy security like national security. It also funded a $150m Alaska transmission line and $42m for the Constitution gas pipeline.
🛢 The UK approved production at Shell’s Jackdaw gas field, with gas flowing by the end of the month, while Equinor’s Rosebank oil field still waits on the regulator. [Link]
A court ruled both original approvals unlawful last year for ignoring emissions, but the UK faces an energy crunch. Jackdaw adds roughly 6% to domestic gas production at peak. Rosebank, Britain’s largest untapped oil field at up to 500m barrels, produces oil for a global market, weakening the energy security case.
🌡 New York regulators approved the state’s first two utility-scale thermal networks, committing $111.5m to projects in Haverstraw and Buffalo. Viridi also installed a 3.75MWh battery inside an affordable housing building in New York. [Link, Link]
Orange & Rockland will spend $50m on the Haverstraw network, which pulls heat from municipal borefields and sewer wastewater. Networked geothermal lets a gas utility rate-base heating and cooling the way it does electricity. Viridi’s system, roughly 280 Powerwalls’ worth, puts lithium-ion inside a residential building, where fire codes have kept storage out entirely.
📊 Virginia regulators started measuring grid utilization, a prerequisite for grid-enhancing technologies. [Link]
Utilities can’t justify dynamic line rating or power flow control without knowing how much headroom their lines have. It also sets up FERC’s ATT recommendations.
💧 The EU awarded nearly $550m to green hydrogen and derivatives projects, with $410m going to five e-SAF projects alone. [Link]
🛰 NOAA and Cowboy Space Corporation tested processing satellite data in orbit, a reality check for the space data center pitch. [Link]
🪸 Researchers revived bleached coral in about seven weeks by pressing it against a healthy clone, which passed its algae through fused tissue. [Link]
📅 Greentown Labs Climatetech Summit: Greentown's flagship regional summit for climate hardware founders, investors, and corporates, on October 29 in Boston. Register before tickets run out or join virtually for free.
💡 Breakthrough Energy Fellows: Full-time 12-month fellowship for early-stage clean-tech founders with up to $500K in catalytic funding via SAFE. Open globally. Applications due November 2.
📅 DERVOS 2026: Join the DER Task Force for the fifth annual DERVOS in Brooklyn on November 5. With the overall theme "Everything is DERs", they’re not saying that everything is small, or even literally “distributed,” but that the center of gravity is shifting toward energy resources that are closer to load and controlled by those who need the power. Sometimes that shift is bottom-up, sometimes it’s centrally planned, but either way, DERs aren’t the sideshow anymore. They’re the main event. Register to hear all the unfiltered hot takes. Use code CTVC15 for 15% off
📅 SOSV Deep Tech Summit: A free, virtual, three-day event on breakthroughs in Climate, Human Health, and Physical AI on November 4-6. Sessions feature investors from Gigascale Capital (moderated by CTVC's own Kim Zou), DCVC, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, At One Ventures; Founders from X-Energy, Brimstone, Rondo Energy; and many more. Register here.
Account Executive @Currence
Data Product Manager @Currence
Founding Customer Success Manager @Currence
Senior Backend Engineer (AI) @Currence
Grid Enhancing Technologies Engineer @Georgia Power
Director of Growth & Giving @Elemental Impact
📩 Feel free to send us deals, announcements, or anything else at [email protected]. Have a great week ahead!
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