Monday, 10 August 2026

Battery startup Sila has secured a conditional loan commitment of USD 1.4 billion from the US Department of Defense, according to CleanTechnica.

The commitment follows a change in the company's commercial scope. CleanTechnica reported that Sila, a US startup, has widened its field beyond EV batteries to cover military and industrial applications.

The support remains conditional, per CleanTechnica's description of the arrangement.

Chinese battery manufacturer CATL has built a battery system for passenger electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) based on prismatic cells rated at an energy density of 350 Wh/kg, electrive reported.

The company says the system is ready for series production, according to electrive, and names Chinese eVTOL developer AutoFlight as its first customer. The prismatic cell format and the 350 Wh/kg figure are the defining specifications of the pack.

Safety testing focused on thermal runaway containment. Engineers deliberately triggered two adjacent cells into thermal runaway at the same time, both in the centre of the pack and at its corners, electrive reported. In none of those tests did the runaway spread to neighbouring cells.

CAAC, China's aviation authority, took part in the manufacturing, inspection and testing of both the cells and the battery system, according to electrive. That involvement puts the aviation regulator inside the production and validation chain rather than only at the certification end.

Energy density is the binding constraint for battery-powered flight, where every kilogram of pack mass displaces payload or range. A 350 Wh/kg prismatic cell sits well above the levels typical of automotive lithium-ion packs, which is why cell chemistry aimed at road vehicles has not transferred directly to aircraft programmes.

Propagation resistance matters more in aviation than in a parked car. A single cell failure that stays contained is a maintenance event; one that cascades through a pack in flight is not. CATL's test protocol targeted the two positions where containment is hardest, the pack centre and its corners.

Malawi's government has energized the country's first battery energy storage system, a 20 MW/40 MWh installation in the township of Kanengo, within the northern region of the capital Lilongwe, according to ESS News.

ESS News reported the project drew $20 million in catalytic grant financing and is built to stabilize Malawi's national grid and cut reliance on diesel.

William Kayipa, chief executive of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), said the installation unlocks around 100 MW of renewables that had previously been constrained, ESS News reported.

Delivery came through the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), an international non-profit initiative, working alongside ESCOM, the state-owned power transmission and distribution company, per ESS News.

The Kanengo unit is one piece of a wider pipeline. Data compiled by the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) and published in its online project database put Malawi's battery projects under development at a combined 92.5 MWh, according to ESS News.

Software-enabled energy supplier David Energy has installed consumer-grade, 120-volt plug-in battery storage at 21 New York City commercial kitchen sites operated by food technology platform Wonder, according to ESS News.

The systems are meant to trim kitchen electricity bills by 3% to 5%, using custom software integration and avoiding traditional utility interconnection queues entirely, ESS News reported. Because the units plug into standard outlets rather than tying into the service entrance, the deployment sidesteps the interconnection step that gates larger behind-the-meter storage.

ESS News said the hardware is EcoFlow STREAM Ultra modular equipment built on lithium iron phosphate chemistry, rated at 800 W output and 1.92 kWh of storage per base unit. The modular format lets capacity scale by stacking units rather than by specifying a single larger cabinet.

David Energy keeps ownership of the batteries under a standard 36-month zero-capex contract and delivers the turn-key system to the commercial end user, ESS News reported. Simple payback runs to roughly three years per deployment, according to the same report.

That structure puts the hardware risk on the supplier rather than the restaurant operator, and pairs a three-year contract term with a payback of about the same length. The savings target of 3% to 5% is the return the software layer is engineered to produce across the 21 sites.

Energy Vault has signed what it calls its largest single commercial contract executed to date, supplying battery energy storage for a data center under a structure designed to bypass utility interconnection entirely, according to ESS News.

The company expects the agreement to generate USD 500 million to USD 600 million in revenue across the second half of 2026 and 2027, ESS News reported.

Energy Vault framed the contract as part of a shift in its business model. "As our largest single contract executed to date, this milestone agreement represents another important step in Energy Vault's strategic evolution from an energy storage technology pioneer into an integrated energy infrastructure provider," the company said.

The off-grid design removes the data center's dependence on a transmission connection queue. Interconnection timelines have become the binding constraint on new large-load projects, and a behind-the-meter storage build sidesteps that process rather than waiting through it.

The system is designed to be FEOC-compliant, a requirement that applies to US projects seeking federal incentives, according to ESS News. FEOC screening tests the ownership and control of equipment suppliers in a project's supply chain, and compliance determines whether a developer can claim those incentives.

The revenue range spans two reporting periods, placing recognition in the second half of 2026 and through 2027. That timing matters for a storage supplier whose quarterly results have historically swung on the delivery schedule of a small number of large projects.

Data center storage procurement at this contract size shifts the customer profile for grid-scale battery suppliers away from utilities and independent power producers. A single off-grid buyer contracting directly for power infrastructure carries a different credit and delivery structure than a utility-scale project financed against a power purchase agreement.

Energy Vault's own description of the deal as a step toward becoming an integrated energy infrastructure provider signals a move beyond equipment supply into project delivery.

Two emergency orders covering Puerto Rico's electricity system have been extended by the U.S. Department of Energy, with the renewed authorities running from August 10, 2026 to November 7, 2026.

Rising demand on the island and the 2026 hurricane season were cited by DOE as the reasons for keeping the measures active.

Both orders date to May 16, 2025, when DOE invoked Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act for PREPA. That authority let named generating units run under defined conditions and required clearing work along important transmission corridors.

Governor González-Colón credited the Section 202(c) mechanism with supplying "the emergency authorities needed to restore or refurbish close to 1,600 megawatts" of generation capacity on the island since the orders first took effect in May 2025.

Federal approvals for vegetation clearing work have expanded from 5 projects to 33, DOE said.

DOE said its coordination with the governor and local authorities continues under the extended orders, which cover a territory of 3.2 million residents.