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  The largest electrical grid in the U.S. has struggled to cope with an onslaught of data centers. Now, after an auction to add more generating capacity fell short, the grid’s operator, PJM Interconnection, has said it will cut off data centers and other large users during power shortages. The decision arrives as the breakneck pace of data center construction has grid operators scrambling to generate power. By 2035, data centers are expected to use 4x more electricity than they do today. PJM won’t start curtailing supply until June 2027, and the cuts will only apply to data centers that are 50 megawatts or larger. The grid operator is running another auction for new generating capacity. Similar to other demand response programs, which have existed for decades and typically include large users like manufacturers, the customers who have their power cut will be compensated. Such programs typically give customers advance notice, ranging from 30 minutes to a few days, depending on fore...

  Aluminum has left an indelible mark on the world — more than 3 billion tons of red mud, a waste product of the refining process, are currently stored in open-air ponds or mounds. But to Sumedh Gostu, co-founder and CEO of Fast Metals , there’s treasure in the caustic waste.  “It is a very rich resource,” he told TechCrunch. “If you attack with the right chemistry, it can be very profitable.” Gostu thinks Fast Metals has found that chemistry, which just so happens to be partially comprised of another waste stream, also produced from alumina refineries. The startup recently raised a $4.3 million pre-seed round led by New Climate Ventures with participation from Azolla Ventures, Astor Swiss, and Rio Tinto’s accelerator, Founders Factory. Red mud’s vermillion hue comes largely from rusted iron, which is the most common compound in the mix. But the byproduct also contains critical minerals , including titanium, aluminum, and rare-earth elements.  Despite its mineral riches,...

  Sometimes the crowd isn’t so wise. When Ferrari revealed the Luce — its first EV — to the public in May, the internet reacted. And not in a positive way. Critics compared the wedge-shaped Luce with a Nissan Leaf and said Chinese EVs would outperform it while undercutting it on price. Even former Ferrari chair Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was among the haters. Ferrari’s stock dropped 8% the day after the reveal. Their conclusion: The Luce would be a dud. It turns out, the armchair auto executives were wrong about the five-seater that was largely designed by Jony Ive and his firm, LoveFrom. Ferrari hit this year’s sales target for the Luce in just two months, according to a report by the Financial Times. The automaker was hoping to sell just under 500 of the €555,000 ($630,000) EV, and based on previous reports , it sounds like at least 20% will make their way to China. That’s not surprising, given that the Luce seems tailor-made for the Chinese market , which favors fast, sleek ...

  Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is the best-funded fusion power startup , having raised $4 billion from investors over the last seven years, including the $1 billion the company has raised now . Now, developments at CFS , plus rumblings from industry sources TechCrunch has spoken with in recent months, suggest that the startup might go public in the next two or three years. One of those developments was the appointment of Lorence Kim as CFS’s new chief financial officer this week. Kim’s previous stint as a CFO was at Moderna, a biotech which specializes in mRNA therapies, which he joined in 2014 and subsequently helped take public in December 2018. He stuck around another year-and-a-half before returning to biotech investing. Kim said he sees “something very familiar” in CFS. “Fusion today is where mRNA was a decade ago: scientifically real, commercially yet-to-be-proven, and closer than the consensus thinks,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post . The choice might seem unusual, but Kim...

  Just a few short years ago, General Motors and Ford were all in on electric vehicles, spending billions of dollars on those efforts. Now the two biggest American automakers are hardly talking about EVs with their investors. TechCrunch teamed up with Hudson Labs, a New York-based financial research firm, to analyze the last seven years of GM and Ford quarterly earnings calls and found that both companies are talking about EVs at a lower rate than they did before the pandemic. This shouldn’t shock anyone who’s followed the news over the last two years. Both companies have altered, delayed, or outright abandoned plans for new EV models, prompting layoffs and scaled-back factory plans. And while GM and Ford still sell EVs and have new models in their product pipelines, their collective focus has shifted, and it shows in the data. Jim Cain, a spokesperson for GM, said that “quality counts more than quantity.” “We’ve been very clear and consistent in communicating our view that EVs ar...

  Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has long been the best-funded fusion power startup . Now, it’s extending its lead. CFS announced Thursday that it raised $1 billion in a new round that included “significant institutional investors, such as pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and infrastructure and industrial corporate partners,” the company said. When asked by TechCrunch, the company declined to name the specific investors. To date, CFS has raised $4 billion. The funding arrives as the company’s spending ramps up. CFS is currently building Sparc, its demonstration reactor, and finalizing the design of Arc, its first commercial power plant.  The company said the new funding will go toward commercializing fusion, and CEO Bob Mumgaard has hinted that CFS will continue to raise more capital. CFS hasn’t disclosed either Sparc’s or Arc’s price tag, though in 2024, Virginia’s former governor Glenn Youngkin said that Arc would be a “multi-billion-dollar fusion power plant.” Thi...