This Week in Energy News: 13 Stories You Need to See

A roundup of the week's most newsworthy energy industry press releases from PR Newswire, including plans for a solar cell manufacturing plant in New Mexico.

NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2023  With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the energy and natural resources industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. White House Representatives Visit with American Battery Technology Company to Discuss Progressing Circular Economy for Domestic Battery Materials
   While there is a large number of battery cell and electric vehicle manufacturing facilities under construction in the U.S., there is a large void in the domestic supply chain upstream of these facilities resulting in a significant shortage in the amount of domestic and environmentally responsible battery materials required to feed these facilities.
2. Maxeon Solar Technologies Selects Albuquerque, New Mexico, as Site for New 3-Gigawatt Solar Cell and Panel Manufacturing Facility
   The Maxeon plant is expected to be the first large-scale PV cell and panel manufacturing in New Mexico, and its planned capacity is approximately double the size of the largest silicon solar manufacturing facility currently operating in the U.S. Maxeon expects to begin construction in the first quarter of 2024, with factory ramp-up to commence in 2025.
3. Ball Announces Agreement to Sell Aerospace Business for $5.6 Billion
   "The complementary cultural fit of Ball Aerospace and BAE Systems and their combined position as a pure play aerospace and technologies company will leverage Ball's recent investments in talent and facilities located across the country and centered in Boulder, Broomfield and Westminster, Colorado, to provide a multi-dimensional platform for vital national defense, intelligence, and science hardware, software, and space-based assets," said Daniel W. Fisher, chairman and chief executive officer.
4. HB11 Energy receives grant from US Department of Energy to develop clean, safe and unlimited fusion energy
   Led by HB11 Energy's Prof Thomas Mehlhorn and Prof. Adam Sefkow from LLE, the research will be focused on innovative hydrogen-boron fuel targets in its program to develop clean and safe fusion energy.
5. Caelux Announces $12M to Fund Next-Generation Solar Innovation with Perovskite Technology
   "This funding round is a testament to the groundbreaking work we are doing at Caelux. Our advances in perovskite technology represent a seismic shift in the solar energy industry, providing more powerful, efficient, and cost-effective solar solutions," said Scott Graybeal, CEO of Caelux.
6. Solar Power Boosts Clean Water and Vaccine Access for 40,000 in West Africa
   Waterborne illness is a leading cause of death in Benin, and only 58% of children in the country are considered fully immunized. The new solar infrastructure by the Solar Electric Light Fund will help the people of the Kalalé District defy those statistics.
7. United States Faces New Challenges Meeting Increased Demand for Critical Minerals One Year After Historic Inflation Reduction Act, S&P Global Study Finds
   The new study finds that U.S. "energy transition demand"—demand from decarbonization technologies such as electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, solar PV, wind and batteries—will continue to accelerate and be materially higher for lithium (+15%), cobalt (+14%) and nickel (+13%) by 2035 than was projected before the IRA was enacted in August 2022.
8. FirstElement Fuel, the World-Leading Provider of Hydrogen Refueling Solutions, is Awarded $7.7 Million from the California Energy Commission to Scale up its Manufacturing Capacity
   The grant award will help expand FirstElement Fuel's Santa Ana, CA, Manufacturing Facility output by more than 10 times, increasing local jobs, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by enabling more zero-emission transportation.
9. Bayer, GenZero and Shell collaborate to reduce methane emissions in rice cultivation
   Paddy rice cultivation is responsible for approximately 10% of global methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential over 27 times that of carbon dioxide. The approach will include training, support, and guidance for smallholder farmers while utilizing MRV mechanisms incorporating remote sensing technology. 
10. Nuclear Waste Retrieval Begins at UK's Oldest Waste Store
    This achievement means that for the first time ever, Sellafield is retrieving waste from all four of their legacy ponds and silos. This represents the culmination of years of effort by hundreds of people throughout their organization and contractor community.
11. Suntuity Renewables Unveils Direct-to-Consumer Online Platform
    The all-new platform, seamlessly integrated into suntuityrenewables.com and powered by Solar Quote, provides homeowners with a comprehensive solution to design their solar systems, choose equipment, qualify for financing, complete contracts, and schedule site surveys, all within a centralized, user-friendly interface.
12. EarthEn Receives U.S. DOE Support for Groundbreaking Supercritical CO2-based Energy Storage Technology
    EarthEn's innovative technology is a hybrid thermo-mechanical form of energy storage using sCO2 that is superior in its efficiency and flexibility to provide long-duration as well as shorter-duration energy storage.
13. dcbel Closes USD $50M+ Series B for its Breakthrough Bidirectional Home and EV Energy Station
    dcbel empowers homeowners to take control of their energy by leveraging renewable assets such as solar panels, stationary batteries and their electric vehicle (EV) to avoid blackouts, save money when energy prices peak, and earn money while contributing to the stability of the grid.

Read more of the latest energy-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNenergy on Twitter.

Can't-Miss Earnings

In addition to these popular releases, several must-read earnings reports crossed the wire this week, including the quarterly results for Houston Natural Resources Corp, Seadrill Limited and SinglePoint.

Catch up on all the latest earnings reports here.

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