Google is collaborating with and investing in Italian energy storage startup Energy Dome, its first commercial agreement for long-duration energy storage.

Why it matters: The deal is the latest evidence that tech giants are racing to add electricity.

• Google, in particular, is plowing ahead with its industry-leading aggressive clean energy goals.

Zoom in: The companies say the deal will lead to the development of Energy Dome storage projects in Europe, the U.S. and Asia, and the scale-up would occur "at a rapid pace" to meet Google's 2030 goals.

• They say they've identified a pipeline of sites and projects that are in the development and contracting stages, but declined to identify specific locations or the energy capacity of the projects.
• Google is also investing in Energy Dome but declined to reveal the financial terms.

How it works: Energy Dome's CO2 battery is a thermodynamic system that uses CO2 as the working fluid, as well as commodities steel and water, keeping costs low.

• The system "charges" by using electricity to draw CO2 gas through a compressor and condense it into a liquid, which is stored under pressure in tanks. The process creates heat, which is also stored.
• The battery "discharges" by evaporating the liquid CO2 with the heat and pushes the CO2 gas through a turbine to generate power.
• Long-duration storage is a type of energy storage that can offer 10 or more hours of storage capacity and is an emerging market. Most new storage projects are using lithium-ion batteries for shorter periods of time.

Zoom out: Many energy execs think long-duration energy storage will be key to pair with solar and wind to make them more competitive around the clock with natural gas.

• Others think lithium-ion batteries will eventually get so cheap that they'll provide long-duration energy storage.

The big picture: For many years, Google has played a key role in helping boost emerging clean energy technologies.

• That's because it has one of the most aggressive clean energy goals around: to be 100% powered by carbon-free energy for 24/7 by 2030.
• The 24/7 aspect is the tricky part, opting to run its data centers on local, around-the-clock clean energy, instead of buying clean energy from projects far away from its operations.
• Google recently reported a 27% increase in year-on-year electricity consumption between 2023 and 2024 due to data center growth. At the same time, Google signed contracts for 8 GW of clean energy deals.

The bottom line: Google needs to invest in emerging energy tech because the current mainstream commercial tech might not be enough.

For a steady diet of climate tech scoops and analysis, talk to our sales team about Axios Pro Deals.

Companies scaled back or canceled over $6 billion worth of EV and battery-related manufacturing projects last month, per the latest tracking data from the nonprofit E2.

Why it matters: It's another data point showing the increasing pullback on low-carbon manufacturing and generation projects this year.

• The latest retreats came amid "growing uncertainty among businesses as Congress was making the final push to effectively end federal clean energy tax credits," said E2, which is affiliated with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

State of play: June's moves included GM and Toyota downsizing EV projects, and Ampirus Technologies scrapping plans for a battery factory.

The bottom line: Developers are facing overlapping problems, like loss of incentives to federal agencies pulling back grants, as well as wider uncertainty around EV sales, tariffs and more.

• Manufacturing and energy generation projects canceled, closed or downsized a total $22 billion in the first half of 2025, the group said.
• The moves have cost over 16,000 jobs, largely in GOP districts, it said.

The share price of Oklo Inc., the small modular reactor startup, is up 11% this week as it inks new business partnerships, the latest bounce in a longer upward trend.

State of play: This week Oklo and Liberty Energy — the energy services firm DOE boss Chris Wright founded — launched an "alliance" to provide "integrated solutions" for data centers and other customers.

• It starts with gas generation and would be complemented by Oklo's small Aurora units. Liberty is also an Oklo investor.
• Also this week, Oklo and digital infrastructure firm Vertiv said they will co-develop power and cooling systems for data centers.
• Go deeper on the agreements.

The bottom line: AI's power needs and a pro-nuclear, pro-data center Trump team together create market tailwinds for nuclear players — including the Sam Altman-backed company.

👍 Federal nuclear regulators gave several approvals that bring the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan closer to restarting.

• Why it matters: It would be the first U.S. revival of a major commercial reactor. It shows how rising electricity demand and bipartisan federal support are bringing new mojo to both existing and new nuclear facilities.
• State of play: While the approvals announced yesterday will enable plant owner Holtec to load fuel, several more steps are needed before a final green light to resume operations.

🎯 The Energy Department has chosen federal sites in Idaho, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina as spots for hosting industry-developed AI data center and power projects.

• Why it matters: Trump 2.0 officials hope to leverage federal authorities and resources to speed the build-out of AI infrastructure.
• Driving the news: DOE announced the selection of Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Reservation, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and Savannah River Site.

⛏️The Interior Department is revising rules and policies to help recover critical minerals from mine waste, coal refuse, tailings and abandoned uranium mines. Full order...Reuters coverage

That's the amount of ocean surface affected by marine heat waves in 2023, a year that set records for reach, duration and intensity, per new peer-reviewed research in Science.

Why it matters: "The 2023 MHWs highlight the intensifying impacts of a warm climate and the challenges in understanding extreme events," the paper states.

Zoom in: MHWs in 2023 average a remarkable 120 days, nearly four times the average length of 35.72 days from 1982-2023, the researchers found.

• The paper defines marine heat waves as periods of sea surface temps exceeding the 90th percentile of a 1985-2014 baseline.

The bottom line: The extraordinary heat waves "may represent a major shift in oceanic and atmospheric conditions, potentially indicating an early signal of a tipping point in Earth's climate system," it states.

Full paper...press summary...Bloomberg coverage

Reuters' Ron Bousso has a fascinating piece exploring the case for something far-fetched but maybe not bananas: an Exxon-Chevron megamerger.

• On why you should never say never: "Growing volatility in energy prices amid the bumpy global transition away from fossil fuels, shifts in market leadership, heightened geopolitical tensions, and the related rise in resource nationalism could create a confluence of circumstances in the coming years that might make a 'ChExxon' merger more than a fantasy."

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