The Duck Curve#financing
UK Warm Homes loans open with up to £15,000 for solar and batteries
DESNZ launched the UK's Warm Homes Loan Scheme on October 27, 2026, with ten lenders offering no- and low-interest loans of up to £15,000 for rooftop solar, £15,000 for a home battery and £20,000 for an air-to-water heat pump. A government grant to lenders of up to 20% of each loan buys interest rates down by up to 5 percentage points.
Public Accounts Committee calls Sizewell C a 'terrible deal' for taxpayers
The UK House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said on October 28, 2026 that Sizewell C is 'a terrible deal for the UK taxpayer': if costs rise from £40.5 billion to £47.7 billion, consumers would pay £9.8 billion more during construction and £12 billion more over its operating life, while investors add £30 million and keep returns above 10%. MPs want six-monthly progress reports; the government's reply is due by December 28, 2026.
DOE offers Constellation conditional loan of up to $5B for nuclear uprates
The US Department of Energy has offered Constellation Energy a conditional loan commitment of up to $5 billion for uprates and modernization at eight nuclear plants in Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania, which DOE says will add nearly 1.1 GW. Constellation must meet conditions before financing documents are signed, and says the offer is not a final decision to proceed with any individual uprate.
Elementl, Korean consortium sign LOI for up to $750M nuclear partnership
Elementl Power said on October 26, 2026 it signed a letter of intent and term sheet for a nuclear development partnership of up to $750 million with a consortium led by DS Investment Partners, with Samsung C&T as a potential strategic investor, to help carry up to three projects to final investment decision. The deal is not final; one project is Elementl's Ohio plant of up to 1.5 GW using BWRX-300 reactors.
Samsung SDI's Indiana grid order, Solid Power's new line, Stem's review
Samsung SDI America said on October 26, 2026 it has signed a 1 GWh agreement to supply Alpha Omega Power with containerized storage using NCA cells and modules made at the StarPlus Energy plant in Kokomo, Indiana, bringing their deals to 1.5 GWh. Solid Power began commissioning a sulfide-electrolyte line designed to add 45 metric tons of electrolyte capacity a year, and Stem's board opened a strategic review.
NeoVolta's home battery fund, Transaera's DC apartment test, Pascal's $9.3M
NeoVolta launched a $40 million third-party-ownership platform for about 700 home battery and solar-plus-storage projects; Transaera will test its metal-organic-framework heat pump beside a conventional system in a Washington, D.C., apartment building; and Pascal raised $9.3 million for solid-refrigerant cooling, starting with beverage coolers.
Peak Energy raises $108M as GM Ventures leads its sodium-ion storage round
Peak Energy said on October 21, 2026 it closed an oversubscribed Series B led by General Motors Ventures, with $108 million in new financing to scale US manufacturing of its passively cooled sodium-ion grid storage, fulfill over $1 billion in customer orders and launch its product to the data center market.
EU picks 77 net-zero projects, Alaska backs NuCube, ITM's record year
The European Commission selected 77 projects for €3.4 billion of Innovation Fund support on October 19, 2026, among them €20.2 million for Minesto's tidal kite array and a heat-only small modular reactor. The same day, Alaska's AIDEA agreed to invest $25 million in microreactor developer NuCube, and ITM Power reported revenue up 68% to £43.6 million for the year to April 2026.
Akaysha refinances for A$1.75bn as Italy raises battery derating
Akaysha Energy said on October 20, 2026 it had refinanced debt on four Australian batteries into a A$1.75 billion portfolio facility from eleven banks. Italy's regulator ARERA on October 14 cleared higher derating rates for new batteries in the 2028 capacity auction, Vattenfall signed Fluence for a 254 MW Brunsbüttel battery and a tolling deal with Vopak, and Metlen and Karatzis opened a 330 MW, 790 MWh battery in Greece.
Flatiron closes about $850M for a 1,200 MWh battery in Chelsea, Mass.
Flatiron Energy said on October 15, 2026 that it closed about $850 million of financing for Energizar, a battery in Chelsea, Massachusetts it describes as 1,200 MWh, due online in the fourth quarter of 2027. The close followed the DPU's October 9 approval of cost recovery for Energizar's Clean Peak certificate contracts with three utilities, which cover 200 MW of a project Energizar described in August as 250 MW / 1,000 MWh.
General Fusion says LM26 hit 1.1 keV electrons in paper under peer review
General Fusion said on October 8, 2026 that its LM26 machine heated plasma electrons to 1,090 ± 40 eV (about 1.1 keV), a Thomson scattering measurement in a paper co-written with UKAEA and submitted for peer review. A companion paper reports 1,180 eV from X-ray diodes; the company targets 10 keV next and all three LM26 milestones by 2028.
Helion closes at $500M, Hyundai joins CFS, Trump Media files for TAE
Helion said it closed its Thrive Capital-led Series G at $500 million in September 2026, up from a $465 million initial close announced June 4, and Commonwealth Fusion Systems said on September 10 that Hyundai Motor Group invested in the $1 billion round it announced July 30. Trump Media filed its S-4 for the all-stock TAE Technologies merger on September 30; the registration is not yet effective, and the merger agreement's end date is December 18, 2026.
Fusion energy: milestones, money and rules
As of October 30, 2026, DOE pays fusion developers by milestone and Germany has opened a program of its own, private rounds reach $1 billion, the NRC's fusion machine rule is still a proposal, and the first plant sites have buyers but no finished plant.
Germany's SPRIND opens fusion milestone program with up to €500M to 2029
Germany's Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND) launched a milestone-based fusion program for the research ministry BMFTR on October 7, 2026, with up to €500 million through 2029 and public funding meant to rise to as much as €2.5 billion. Start-ups and young companies with a place of business in Germany can apply until January 13, 2027; the final milestone is a Technical Design Report for a demonstration plant by 2037, and Phase 1 money is expected to come mainly as SPRIND equity.
Type One Energy raises $200M Series B for its Tennessee fusion plant
Type One Energy said on October 6, 2026 that it closed a $200 million Series B co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Clutterbuck Capital, with Lowercarbon Capital, Siemens Energy Ventures and SiteGround Capital among new investors, for its stellarator program and Project Infinity at TVA's Bull Run site. CEO Christofer Mowry told TechCrunch the round should get the company halfway to paying for a 400-megawatt commercial plant.
DOE offers Vistra conditional loan of up to $4.2B for nuclear uprates
The US Department of Energy announced on October 5, 2026 a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $4.2 billion to Vistra for uprates and modernization at Beaver Valley, Perry and Davis-Besse, which DOE says will add 433 MW and preserve nearly 4 GW, with an option to finance potential future Comanche Peak uprates. Vistra must meet conditions before the loan is documented and funded; Meta agreed in January to buy 433 MW of uprate output from the same plants, and Vistra plans NRC uprate filings from 2029 to 2032.
US and Korea earmark up to $120B for eight reactors, with no sites named
South Korea and the United States announced Project Power on September 30, 2026, a framework to build six Westinghouse AP1000 and two APR1400 reactors in the US with $120 billion of Korea's $200 billion investment ceiling, including $20 billion of contingency, and agreed to cooperate on a $10 billion advance payment by year-end aimed at long-lead items. No specific sites, owners or power buyers are named; Westinghouse's shareholders call the terms non-binding, Brookfield cites a 5% to 10% Korean stake in Westinghouse, and Cameco puts the APR1400 waiver at about $2 billion of value per reactor.
Fervo reports first power from Cape Station's first 33 MW GeoBlock in Utah
Fervo Energy said on September 24, 2026 that Cape Station, its enhanced geothermal development in Beaver County, Utah, reached what it calls First Power: the first of Phase I's three 33-megawatt GeoBlocks is synchronized to the grid and exporting electricity, with a contractual commercial operation date it expects to reach by October 1, 2026, the other two by January 1, 2027. Fervo's August 13 10-Q guided first power to the fourth quarter of 2026; its May prospectus defines a GeoBlock as 50 MW and puts its first Cape Station project at approximately $7,000/kW in overnight capital costs.
2,500 electric Class 8 trucks ordered through ZET SCALE, Tesla primary OEM
Catalyst Mobility and the Smart Freight Centre said on September 22, 2026 that their ZET SCALE shipper-carrier alliance has enabled an order for 2,500 battery-electric Class 8 trucks, which the release calls the largest electric truck order to date in the United States and says nearly doubles the US electric Class 8 fleet; the dashboard it links puts cumulative US zero-emission HD-truck deployments at 2,509 through December 2025. Tesla is primary OEM for the initial 2,500, with Kenworth, RIDE and Volvo as secondary OEMs; ZET Financial issues the purchase order and will lease the trucks.
Morgan Stanley's 1GT leads €49M Series E for Amber Electric
Amber Electric said on September 21, 2026 it closed a nearly twice oversubscribed Series E led by 1GT, which Amber calls Morgan Stanley's climate tech fund and Morgan Stanley Investment Management calls its private climate equity strategy, with existing backers ETF Partners, Innovation Victoria and E.ON participating, to scale in Australia and expand across Europe. Amber puts the round at $78.5 million with no currency named; Morgan Stanley's release states €49 million (about US$56.3 million). Amber says it orchestrates more than half of Australia's automated home batteries.
Samsung C&T commits up to $100M of investment and engineering to Kairos
Kairos Power and Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group signed a binding term sheet, announced September 21, 2026, under which Samsung C&T agreed to provide up to $100 million in direct investment and in-kind engineering services, subject to regulatory approvals, for the Hermes 2 Demonstration Plant, and to join Kairos's EPC team. A Kairos spokesperson told TechCrunch the equity investment makes up $70 million of the total. The NRC issued Hermes 2's construction permits on November 21, 2024; no operating license application appears on the NRC's Hermes 2 page as of September 21, 2026.
Mazama Energy raises $135M for superhot geothermal wells at Newberry
Mazama Energy announced $135 million in new capital on September 17, 2026, including an oversubscribed Series B led by Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital, for its Newberry, Oregon engineered geothermal system, which it calls the hottest ever built at 629°F. The money funds Project Ceres, DOE-supported horizontal wells; the BLM issued a categorical-exclusion decision record on a Project Ceres geothermal operations plan on July 24, 2026, and the company now says Ceres will demonstrate power generation in 2027, where its October 2025 release had placed a 15 MW pilot in 2026.
EIB backs Steady Energy's heat-only SMR with up to €40M convertible loan
The European Investment Bank said on September 15, 2026 it is investing up to €40 million in Steady Energy, the Finnish developer of the 50 MW (thermal) heat-only LDR-50 reactor for district heating, as a senior unsecured convertible loan it calls its first investment in SMR technology. A 3North Partners release that day says the loan carries zero percent interest and a 20-year maturity and joins about €69.8 million in irrevocable but conditional investor commitments, an IPO of up to €5 million, and a planned Nasdaq First North listing under a September 11, 2026 share exchange agreement.
