Google has announced that it has signed a global commercial partnership with Milan-based startup Energy Dome and has also invested in its long duration energy storage (LDES) tech for renewable energy. The deal, its first investment in LDES tech, entails using Energy Dome's carbon dioxide battery for the grids that power Google’s operations around the world. Batteries are used to keep excess energy generated by renewable sources, such as solar and wind, during peak production and when demand is low. But lithium-ion batteries can only store and dispatch energy for fours hours or less.
Energy Dome explained that its CO2 battery can store and continuously dispatch energy for 8 to 24 hours, so Google can rely on renewable power more even when there's no wind or sun. Its technology uses carbon dioxide held inside dome-shaped batteries, which you can see in the image above. When there's excess renewable energy being generated, the batteries use that power to compress the carbon dioxide gas inside them into liquid. And when that energy is needed, the liquid carbon dioxide expands back into a hot gas under pressure. That gas spins a turbine and generates energy that's fed back into the grid for a period lasting up to a whole day.
Google said that Energy Dome's technology has the potential to "commercialize much faster" than some of its other clean tech investments, and it aims to "bring this technology to scale faster and at lower costs." It also said that it believes the partnership and its investment in Energy Dome can help it achieve its goal of operating on renewable energy 24/7 by 2030.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-invests-in-carbon-dioxide-battery-for-renewable-energy-storage-140045660.html?src=rss
OpenAI has struck a deal with Oracle to add an astounding 4.5 gigawatts of US data center capacity to power the massive workload required by its large language models. The companies haven't specified where these new centers will be built, but Bloomberg is reporting that Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming are all under consideration.
The ChatGPT maker says this new capacity is a part of the Stargate Project, and that together with its one GW campus in Abilene, Texas, the company is projecting more than five GW of total capacity running over two million AI chips once the new centers are complete. Oracle began delivering its GB200 racks last month for the Abilene site as it begins operations. OpenAI estimates that the massive undertaking will create over 100,000 jobs, though data centers historically employ few full-time workers, with most of the jobs tied to construction.
While details on budget were not shared, OpenAI says that these new data centers represent significant progress toward its promise of investing $500 billion in the United States to build out 10 GW of AI infrastructure over the next four years. These investments, which are all part of The Stargate Project, are being made alongside SoftBank and Oracle as partners, though SoftBank is not financing this phase.
This announcement comes as big tech companies are pouring billions into new data centers and power agreements to sustain the growth of AI and power future models. Google recently closed a £3 billion deal to secure 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power, while Microsoft is planning to restart the nuclear power plants of Three Mile Island.
In a press release announcing the new project, Open AI said " Stargate is an ambitious undertaking designed to meet the historic opportunity in front of us. That opportunity is now coming to life through strong support from partners, governments, and investors worldwide—including important leadership from the White House, which has recognized the critical role AI infrastructure will play in driving innovation, economic growth, and national competitiveness."
OpenAI and others are racing to build compute power at an industrial scale, with some US states offering massive tax incentives to land the projects.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-partners-with-oracle-to-built-out-45-gigawatts-in-data-center-capacity-143423570.html?src=rss
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 02: Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks during Snowflake Summit 2025 at Moscone Center on June 02, 2025 in San Francisco, California. Snowflake Summit 2025 runs through June 5th. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Stellantis, the automotive giant behind Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep and Peugeot, is pulling out of hydrogen. The company said it’s killing its fuel cell development program in the face of “limited availability of hydrogen refueling infrastructure, high capital requirements and the need for stronger consumer purchasing incentives.” To put that another way, it’s realized hydrogen EVs are facing the same set of challenges it’s not been able to overcome in the last two or three decades.
It’s a stark shift in tone from January 2024, when the company promised to roll out a fleet of commercial fuel cell vehicles. Stellantis sells many of Europe’s most popular panel vans including the Citroen Jumper, Fiat Ducato, Opel Movano and Peugeot Boxer. Back then, it said we’d see hydrogen versions of all those vehicles (as well as its smaller siblings) with maximum ranges of 500km (310 miles).
The decision to pull the plug came relatively late, with the company saying it was due to begin production at its plants in France and Poland “this summer.” It added the decision to kill the range will not impact staffing in production or R&D, with employees transferred to other projects. It will, however, have to delicately negotiate its exit with Symbio, the fuel cell maker it bought a one-third share of back in 2023.
Stellantis isn’t the first company that pledged to put its weight behind fuel cells only to pull back. Toyota has thrown a lot of time, effort and money behind hydrogen, believing fuel cells would be preferable to battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Sadly, as time progressed, the company has had to cede more and more of the market to batteries, and only advertises its third-generation fuel cell as a power unit for heavy industrial vehicles.
Hydrogen was, and has been for some time, an article of faith for fossil fuel companies, the car industry and even some countries that lack their own energy reserves. After all, the promise of being able to pull (theoretically limitless), emission-free energy out of water is the stuff of dreams. Not to mention, it requires much of the same knowledge and infrastructure used by the traditional oil and gas industry, and refueling can only take place at a commercial site.
Had hydrogen made more of an impact, it would have likely preserved the status quo or something much like it, for those industries long into the future. But while the hope was that hydrogen could be a cleaner, greener substitute for oil and gas, its inherent flaws always made that a non-starter.
For instance, hydrogen is far less energy dense than oil and gas, and far less physically dense — it’s so prone to leaking that you have to go above and beyond to seal it in. It’s difficult to mass produce cleanly, especially if you want to power every car in the world, unless you use a dirty process like the steam reformation of methane. So, rather than moving away from fossil fuels and emissions, you’d be further entrenching them into the system and adding to the problem.
And if you did want to just use renewable energy to pull hydrogen from water, then you’d require an unprecedented amount of investment. Back in 2021, I asked Tim Lord, who had previously been in charge of the UK’s decarbonization strategy, about that sort of industrial-scale hydrogen generation. He said that you’d essentially need to double your whole electricity generation output to get close.
That’s before you get to the other factors, like hydrogen’s efficiency as a store of energy or the investment necessary to equip every gas station on the planet with a hydrogen tank. Which is not likely going to pay off given that Toyota’s Mirai, arguably the flagship hydrogen fuel cell EV, has only sold 28,000 models since its launch in 2014. In the US market, there's only the Mirai, the Hyundai Nexo and the Honda CR-V e-FCEV knocking around, nothing compared to how many BEVs are on sale. I think it’s time for everyone to admit that we’re done with hydrogen fuel cell EVs and focus their attention elsewhere.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/another-big-car-company-gives-up-on-hydrogen-133011978.html?src=rss
A lineup of Stellantis-owned vans from different marques that would have promised fuel cell EV versions but for the project's late-in-the-day axing. There are four fans in a line parked outside a factory, with the sun just pushing out from behind the clouds.
The so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” will, if passed, make sweeping changes to the US’ clean energy market. While some of the worst provisions affecting the industry were stripped out during Senate proceedings earlier this week, it’s still pretty bad. In fact, the current language of the bill might as well be a middle figure to the domestic solar manufacturing industry.
As it stands, the bill guts many of the clean energy programs of Joe Biden's signature 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. That includes killing off incentives for domestic and utility-scale solar power as well as the Clean Electricity Production Credit. Even worse, the bill axes the Domestic Content bonus that incentivized the use of US-made gear.
There were a number of provisions that did not survive its journey through the Senate, like the excise tax on renewable energy. As CBS News reported, the levy would have imposed an additional charge on projects that used materials from foreign countries. As CNN explained, this would have cut renewable energy projects in favor of extending the life of coal and gas turbine plants.
Rob Gardner is Vice President of Congressional and Regulatory Affairs for SEMA, the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America coalition. He walked me through the bill, explaining the effects of the changes for the US solar industry. “A positive is that it maintains production tax credits for manufacturers of clean energy components,” he said.
One tweak from an earlier version of the bill was the speed at which the existing tax credits would be withdrawn. As it stands, projects that are already approved will qualify for the present regime, as will any project beginning construction before June 2026. “Basically, a year after enactment [companies have] to begin construction on utility-scale solar projects to receive the full amount of the credit,” said Gardner. And, according to § 70512 (4)(a) those plants will need to be “placed in service” no later than December 31, 2027.
The bigger issue, however, is that the bill creates “uncertainty for long-term demand for US products,” according to Gardner. Put simply, American-made solar panels are more expensive than their Chinese counterparts due to higher manufacturing costs. By removing the incentives, including the Domestic Content bonus, the US is opening the door for Chinese-made alternatives. Gardner added “after the tax credits that incentivize domestic production and consumption expire, you will see a flood of Chinese product [in the market.]”
The US's Environmental Information Administration projects that the US’ total domestic energy consumption will grow by almost two percent in the next year. A slowdown in new energy additions is the last thing the US needs, especially as renewables made up almost 90 percent of all new power generation capacity in 2024. But it’s likely that even with all of the changes in the bill, solar will remain the biggest technology used to implement new power generation capacity.
Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association pulls no punches in her statement. She said the bill “undermines the very foundation of America’s manufacturing comeback.” Hopper added that “families will face higher electric bills, factories will shut down, Americans will lose their jobs and our electric grid will grow weaker.”
Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association described the bill as a “step backward” for American energy policy and an “intentional effort” to undermine “one of the fastest-growing sources of electric power.”
Environmental groups also believe the bill’s passing marks a dark day in the world’s fight against climate change. Greenpeace USA Deputy Climate Program Director John Noël, said in a statement that “this is a vote that will live in infamy” for its role in “doling out fossil fuel industry handouts.”
Environmental Defense Fund’s Vice President for Political and Government Affairs Joanna Slaney agreed. She said that the bill is “effectively cutting off supply of cheap energy right when the US needs it most.” In contrast, the bill offers a “10-year reprieve from paying a fee on wasteful methane pollution,” a gas significantly more harmful than carbon dioxide to the environment.
Research by clean energy company Cleanview suggests the bill may jeopardize up to 600GW of new renewable energy capacity. This is because of the tight deadlines the bill imposes to qualify for the existing credits, which again, need to begin construction before June 2026. That 600GW figure includes solar farms and battery storage projects in California and Texas that would need to be rushed to get working.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/trumps-big-beautiful-bill-is-a-middle-finger-to-us-solar-energy-152042835.html?src=rss
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