This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week’s episode features special guest Molly Taft from WIRED, who discusses Elon Musk’s AI company xAI’s decision to add 19 natural gas turbines to its Colossus 2 data center in Southaven, Mississippi.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is fourth grader Christian Mango. At 10 years old, Christian researched electric vehicles, cited facts, and wrote to his U.S. congresswoman Virginia Foxx proposing a $5,000 federal EV tax rebate. When she responded by reprimanding Christian as foolish and his teachers as propagandists, Christian made national news for writing the letter. Congratulations Christian!
1. Solar trade group taps former GOP governor as new chief — POLITICO
Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota who served two terms from 2003 to 2011, will be the new head of the Solar Energy Industries Association starting June 15th.
As Governor, Pawlenty managed a $50 billion biennial budget, led more than 20 state agencies and departments. He signed Minnesota’s Next Generation Energy Act, which set a 25% renewable electricity standard, and joined the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord. Pawlenty said he was honored to join the group at such a “pivotal moment” for the nation’s energy future.
2. Organic flow battery company CMBlu closes €50 million Series C — Energy Storage News
Organic flow battery company CMBlu Energy has closed a $58M Series C financing with participation from Samsung Ventures. That pushes CMBlu past $1 billion valuation.
Flow batteries store energy in liquid electrolytes held in external tanks. Pumps push the liquid through a stack where the chemical reaction happens. You can scale up capacity by making tanks bigger, which makes flow batteries a better fit for long duration storage than lithium ion.
3. Fervo IPO ushers geothermal energy into mainstream — Axios
Geothermal power developer Fervo Energy priced its IPO at $27 per share, raising $1.89 billion on Tuesday night, and sold 70 million shares of Class A common stock, giving it a valuation of $7.7 billion.
Wednesday morning, the company’s stock surged 33% in its Nasdaq debut, pushing market valuation past $10 billion. A source with knowledge of the offering said it was massively oversubscribed and that bankers are marketing it as quote “the largest primary clean energy public equity deal of all time.”
4. EDPR upbeat on US renewables market, sees profitable growth and new opportunities — Reuters
EDPR had an analyst call this week about the US market, and it was surprisingly optimistic. The company expects profitable growth despite Trump’s efforts to roll back renewables. The US is EDPR’s core market. Half of its 20.5 GW capacity is there, and 60% of its global CapEx is headed there over the next three years as it aims to capitalize on the data center power boom. Despite the accelerated phase-out of tax credits since last July, EDPR has still locked in 1.4 GW of new US capacity.
5. xAI Adds 19 New Gas Turbines Despite Ongoing Lawsuit — WIRED
xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, has added 19 natural gas turbines to its Colossus 2 data center in Southaven, Mississippi, bringing the total to 46 turbines at the site. This expansion is happening despite an ongoing lawsuit from the NAACP and environmental groups alleging that xAI is violating the Clean Air Act by operating turbines without proper air permits, and notably, eight of the new turbines were installed after the lawsuit was filed.
The turbines, which are classified as portable and therefore exempt from permit requirements for up to a year under federal law, represent enormous generating capacity and have raised serious air quality concerns in surrounding communities.
Facts Only
* xAI added 19 natural gas turbines to its Colossus 2 data center in Southaven, Mississippi, bringing the total to 46 turbines.
* xAI expansion occurred despite ongoing lawsuits alleging Clean Air Act violations regarding air permits.
* Organic flow battery company CMBlu Energy closed a $58 million Series C financing with Samsung Ventures.
* CMBlu Energy’s valuation was pushed past $1 billion.
* Flow batteries utilize liquid electrolytes stored in external tanks, with pumps pushing the liquid through a stack for chemical reaction.
* Fervo Energy priced its IPO at $27 per share, raising $1.89 billion.
* Fervo Energy sold 70 million shares of Class A common stock, resulting in a $7.7 billion valuation.
* EDPR expects profitable growth in the US market despite efforts to roll back renewables.
* EDPR plans to capitalize on the data center power boom, aiming for 60% of its global CapEx to be in the US over three years.
* Tim Pawlenty, former Republican governor of Minnesota, will become the head of the Solar Energy Industries Association starting June 15th.
* Christian Mango, a fourth grader, proposed a $5,000 federal EV tax rebate to U.S. congresswoman Virginia Foxx.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The narrative presented highlights a fundamental tension between rapid technological scaling and regulatory/social accountability in the clean energy sector. The xAI example demonstrates a pattern where corporate pursuit of massive infrastructure capacity (generating power) proceeds even when facing significant public health and environmental concerns, utilizing legal exemptions (portable turbines) to manage liability. This suggests that the speed of technological adoption often outpaces the establishment of necessary social and environmental oversight.
The contrast between the high-level corporate maneuvering (Fervo’s massive IPO, CMBlu’s investment) and grassroots political action (Christian Mango’s EV rebate proposal) reveals a fracturing of power. While large entities pursue exponential growth in energy solutions, genuine political impact often relies on individual moral agency and direct advocacy, illustrating a split between top-down capital flow and bottom-up democratic demand.
The optimism displayed by entities like EDPR, despite political headwinds, exists within a system that is actively being challenged by opposing forces (like the lawsuits against xAI). The pattern suggests that while market mechanisms drive investment, systemic risks related to externalities—such as air quality and environmental impact—are often addressed reactively, not preemptively. The real implication is that true cognitive sovereignty requires recognizing that growth, no matter how profitable, is inherently constrained by the historical pattern of externalizing costs onto public and environmental systems.
Patterns detected: ARC-0043 Motte-and-Bailey, ARC-0024 Ambiguity
Sentinel — Human
The text displays the typical fragmented, fact-based style of human-compiled news or a newsletter, lacking the smooth, over-generalized transitions characteristic of pure machine generation.