The loans: Per President Trump’s recent announcement, $1.4B of that cash is headed to Sila Nanotechnologies, a silicon-anode battery producer founded by a former Tesla engineer. The Defense Department has also inked deals with three other companies.

The context: To ease US dependence on foreign suppliers—especially China—the Trump administration has poured nearly $40B into US mineral companies, and new domestic mines are opening at the fastest pace since the 1950s.

The tension: Uncle Sam’s growing appetite for equity stakes (see: Intel, and now Strategic Bauxite) continues to spark criticism about the extent of public-sector intervention.

The cash: TVA’s net income has jumped by $220M in the first three quarters of 2026. The catalyst? Data center power sales, according to the utility.

The compliance: And in Texas, a growing list of major data center operators are backing Gov. Greg Abbott’s stricter standards for these facilities (and his call for a “comprehensive” audit by the state PUC and ERCOT).

You might’ve heard about the latest feat from City Labs: The company’s mini spacecraft recently became the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite to blast into the stars. City Labs creates compact batteries that run on tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen (which provides power as it decays). 

Cosmic capacity: City Labs thinks these tiny nuclear systems can power sensors and other key tech on future missions to the moon and beyond—perhaps even crewed visits to the Red Planet.

Back here on Earth, City Labs’s batteries have ventured into the depths of oil wells, where they can power monitoring systems for decades. CEO Peter Cabauy sees plenty of possible applications across the grid, including thousands of line sensors. “We want to make nuclear micropower available to everyone,” Cabauy told Energy Central. “We love the idea that we can take tritium and find thousands of uses for it.”

The build side: SEG Solar recently opened a 4-GW module plant in Texas, and wants to reach 10.6 GW of annual capacity across its facilities (which would make it the country’s largest crystalline silicon solar module assembler). But the ribbon-cutting came one day after Trump slapped new tariffs on the key module material polysilicon, which SEG Solar said will present a “tall order” for future operations.

The buy side: With the 30% federal Investment Tax Credit expiring, an Enverus analysis found that nearly 700 in-progress solar projects no longer pencil out. Now, we can expect higher PPA prices to fill the gap. That’s manageable for hyperscalers with deep pockets, but a harder sell for smaller corporate off-takers whose budgets don't stretch the same way.

The plan: Radiant cooling tech would absorb heat from steamy subway platforms and pipe it to geothermal boreholes (drilled beneath an abandoned train platform). That stored heat would then warm nearby municipal buildings in winter. 

The timeline: The city expects the feasibility study to be awarded this fall. And if the geology cooperates? Design work is slated to kick off in early 2027.

Worth watching: ConEd is already running its own thermal energy network pilots across NYC. If both efforts gain traction, the Big Apple could become a proving ground for scaled-up urban geothermal. 🔥

Over it: Extending Diablo Canyon’s operations is somebody else's problem, the governor said Friday. "I have a sell-by date in five months," he told reporters—the first time he's taken a public position on the issue.

The context: Diablo operator PG&E has been lobbying hard for legislative action this year to keep it online. But the company’s efforts to give Diablo a lifeline have already racked up over $600M in potential taxpayer costs and prompted public opposition.

What’s next: The plant’s fate now rests with California's next administration and legislature.