Talking Climate Tech 024 redux
Wave Energy Startups, Peak China, Trump v Solar, EPA Loves Earth Day, and Pylon of the Month!
🌊 Wave Energy Startups | 📉 China Emissions | 🌞 Trump v Solar | 🌎 Earth Day
Issued to subscribers 16th May 2025.
Coming to you this week with quite the mega-mix....
"brace brace brace, this is your captain speaking, this aircraft is hitting an area of major turbulence...." 🧑✈️ ✈️
More on that later....
💸 Startup News
I realised looking back over the Newsletter back issues that we haven't had a themed week on either Wave, or Tidal energy startups.
Having talked with a few connections on both topics recently, and a pending interview guest, I thought we should - I've been feeling very Maritime and Marine again lately anyway.
That's settled, Tidal next week.
This infographic also reminded me - Ocean Energy Europe recently updated is project portfolio on Wave & Tidal, there are now 165MW of projects now in the pipeline - could we finally be nearing commercial traction?
Always big challenges deploying technology in the sea - she's a cruel mistress. The history of wave power is littered with startups that haven't made it. Annual capacity additions are struggling - will any of these 3 ride it in long-term 🏄♂️
🇸🇪 CorPower Ocean
Raised $91.4m to date. CorPower Ocean
Their point absorber with a heaving buoy on the surface, which absorbs energy from the combined surge and heavy motion of the waves, producing 10 MWh/tonne for a good size & weight to electricity production ratio.
🇬🇧 Mocean Energy
Raised $6m to date. Mocean Energy
A hinged raft design floating structure with two arms connected by a centre hinge. Tested in the 2021 prototype Blue X, then onto the Blue Star, which is commercially deployed, and includes solar and battery, for subsea support - control systems, ROVs, and autonomous underwater vehicles.
🇮🇪 OceanEnergy
Raised, unconfirmed. OceanEnergy
Want something a bit bigger? Try this beast! They recently deployed the 1MW OE35 in the US at a Naval facility in Hawaii. Different technology here - waves force air into a chamber, spinning the turbine, and when the waves recede, the vacuum created creates a second movement for continuous turbine rotation.
The turbine is a custom-built unit from Siemens, fully composite and has a single moving part, the rotor. They are going bigger, the OE50 is 2.5MW capacity.
A lot of steel in this for the LCA, the OE35 is 5 stories high and >800 tonnes 🤔
🔎 Deeper Dive
China Peak Emissions 🇨🇳
Is this the tipping point we have all been waiting and hoping for?
The new analysis for Carbon Brief shows that China’s emissions were down 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and by 1% in the latest 12 months.
Electricity supply from new wind, solar and nuclear capacity was enough to cut coal-power output even as demand surged, whereas previous falls were due to weak growth.
Read more here.
Maritime Methanol ⛽
You will recall from my Maritime UK Conference Part 1, that the race for future fuels to decarbonise shipping is rapidly gaining pace.
The world's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant began operations in Denmark on Tuesday, with shipping giant Maersk set to buy part of the production as a low-emission fuel for its fleet of container ships.
More from Reuters here.
Trump Watch 💥
I could spend all day on Sauron this week, the Middle Eastern grift tour is in full swing, it knows no bounds, limits or decorum when it comes to leveraging the Trump family business through the office of the President.
But this is a climate tech newsletter, focus!
OK, I will give you a bit on that, it wouldn't be the same without calling him out every week.
☀️ Solar Meltdown
The growth in global Solar is remarkable, as it has been in the US - the transformation of the Californian grid, plus other states like Texas, is incredible.
That doesn't align with the interests of the Fossil Fuel industry, so DJT is hacking into the "Residential Clean Energy Credit"- which allows solar system owners to receive a tax credit worth up to 30% of the eligible cost basis of a solar installation.
Sounds good, and it's been running for a while...
This incentive actually originated during the oil crisis in 1978. It was then brought back in 2005 and, with some tweaks and changes, has persisted ever since.
Trump himself extended the solar tax credit at the end of his first term (the COVID year).
I'm leaving this supersize for anyone at the back and the avoidance of doubt!
Why, Donald, why!? 🤯
100 Days of Climate Carnage 💣
Here is a handy Trump Tracker, worth a bookmark - remember we are only 100 days in, there is going to be a lot to track!
Grift Gift ✈️
There is nothing DJT likes more than money, self-interest and everything to be all about Donald. Good time then to head over to the Middle East for a whistle-stop tour, pick up a new $400m plane, bag some hotel deals, etc and head on back to the day job.
What did the dealmaker come back with? More here.
Qatar Airways has agreed to buy up to 210 jets from American manufacturing giant Boeing, according to US President Donald Trump, who announced the $96bn (£72.4bn) order as part of his tour of the Middle East.
That is good news for Boeing. And Donald, because, of course, there's a golden handshake, and some questions around the Constitution, legality, and optics!
They checked, Pam Bondi, his AG, said it was ok and wrote him a memo, so you know it's ok. Note, Pam did used to lobby for Qatar. Just saying...
More from the BBC here. Should be ready by the time he leaves office for his holidays, if he ever leaves office 🤔
Reported refit budget, $1bn, from the taxpayer purse obviously!
...gift from the Qatari defence ministry to the Pentagon, and that it will be modified to meet Air Force One's safety and security standards.
Experts say this is likely to take years, which means the plane may not be ready for use until near the end of Trump's term.
This is even sending the MAGA faithful into a spin. Laura Loomer, the far-right MAGA activist, More here
Loomer said she loved Trump and would “take a bullet for him. But I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400m ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits.”
This one is set to run!
Rest of the Clan 💰
Here are some of the other deals the rest of the family greased while out there:
💸 Trump International Hotel & Tower - Dubai 🇦🇪
💸 Trump Golf Resort - Doha 🇶🇦
💸 Trump Tower - Jeddah 🇸🇦
💸 Trump Crypto - Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪
You can check all the commercial deals and all the property and crypto grifts from the links in this summary here.
🏡 Konfab News
Yes, Still on About the Event! 🚀
Of course, had to drop it in again!
1️⃣ week to go!
Great response so far, all sorts of interesting companies and organisations from maritime, tidal, wave energy, solar, infrared heating, data analytics, academia, education, scientific, creatives, agencies, talent and resourcing, finance and legal - quite the smorgasbord!
Exactly what was intended and what the South needs - people care and want to coalesce into a community to deliver and manage climate change through technology, infrastructure, efficiencies, mitigation, and adaptation - it is becoming a core part of everyday business and a key driver for growth. 📈
Please share far and wide! 🙏
Don't Get FOMO....!
😃 Good Stuff
Earth Day + People Power 🇺🇸
Here is an interesting throwback I picked up on earlier in the week from a connection on LinkedIn.
The EPA has been ransacked and denuded, and is now deregulating every environmental protection asap in the whim of Sauron. It wasn't always like this.
The first Earth Day was in 1970, this was its origin, direct from the EPA website - I know, incredible they havent taken this page down yet!
It may be hard to imagine that before 1970, a factory could spew black clouds of toxic smoke into the air or dump tons of toxic waste into a nearby stream, and that was perfectly legal. They could not be taken to court to stop it.
How was that possible? Because there was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act. There were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment.
In spring 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to force this issue onto the national agenda. Twenty million Americans demonstrated in different U.S. cities, and it worked! In December 1970, Congress authorized the creation of a new federal agency to tackle environmental issues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
I will just restate that for our US subscribers - there is always hope.
Twenty million Americans demonstrated in different U.S. cities, and it worked!
New Worm Alert 🪱
Just when you thought we knew about all the things, everywhere, including all the worms, another one pops up - Earth is full of surprises. More here.
A new species of ribbon worm, Pararosa vigarae, has been discovered off the coast of Galicia, Spain. This worm, named the “accordion worm” due to its unique ability to contract its body into regular ring-like folds resembling the bellows of an accordion, adds to the growing catalogue of ribbon worm species.
Pylon of the Month ⚡
This weeks Tower of Power is a moody tension pylon scene from up North in Leeds:
I have been telling you how critical Pylon of the Month is...even the teachers and kids are at it!
...he became a fan when his Physics teacher introduced the class to the blog in a lesson.
Thanks as always, let's keep pushing forward - remember, the momentum is unstoppable despite everything you might see and hear! 🌍
Stay warm, cool, dry, wet and safe wherever you are 🙏
Kane
Talking Climate Tech is free to its subscribers, but it does take a lot of time, energy and a fair bit of coffee to make it happen! 🥺
If you would like to support me, I could always use an extra cup... ☕ ⬇️
