Environment

Talen, Constellation and Vistra tumble after government rejects Amazon nuclear-data center agreement

Published

14 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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A power substation near the LC1 CloudHQ data center in Ashburn, Virginia, United States.

Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Technology companies’ push to directly power artificial intelligence with nuclear plants hit a major roadblock, after a federal regulator rejected a request to increase power for an Amazon data center.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday rejected a request to increase the amount of power the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania can dispatch to an Amazon data center campus.

Independent power producer Talen Energy in March sold the data center campus to Amazon for $650 million, which would be powered by the nuclear plant in a first-of-its-kind deal.

Talen’s stock fell more than 5% in premarket trading on FERC’s denial order. Constellation Energy and Vistra Corp. tumbled more than 11% and nearly 3%, respectively, in sympathy. Investors were expecting Constellation and Vistra to announce similar deals at some point.

The grid operator PJM Interconnection and the Susquehanna plant, which Talen owns, had filed a request to increase the amount of power dispatched to the Amazon data center from 300 megawatts currently to 480 megawatts.

The arrangement, called co-location by the power industry, “could have huge ramifications for both grid reliability and consumer costs,” said FERC Commissioner Mark Christie in his opinion backing the order.

Talen said FERC’s decision will have a “chilling effect on economic development in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Jersey” in a statement Monday. The power company said it is evaluating its options with a “focus on commercial solutions.”

The Amazon data center campus can still use 300 megawatts of power from the Susquehanna nuclear plant, according to Talen. The company said the deal is “is just and reasonable and in the best interest of consumers.”

The FERC decision does not impact Constellation’s plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in 2028 through a power purchase agreement with Microsoft. Three Mile Island will dispatch power to the electric grid, rather than directly power Microsoft’s data centers.

But Constellation and Vistra have expressed interest in striking deals with tech companies that are similar to the agreement between Talen and Amazon.

Data centers that power AI and cloud computing are consuming growing amounts of electricity. Utilities are scrambling to find ways to power the growing electric load. Tech companies are increasingly turning to nuclear power because it is reliable and does not emit carbon dioxide emissions.

Vistra and Constellation are two of the best performing stocks in the S&P500 this year, as investors bet on a potential windfall from the tech sector’s growing energy needs.

Vistra’s stock has more than tripled this year, outpacing even Nvidia to become the best performing stock in the market. Constellation has more than doubled and is the fourth best stock in the S&P500 this year.

Environment

Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

Published

3 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s Cybertruck is now available in Canada – and, like in the US, there’s no waiting! Plus, we’ve got an “actually” smart summon Tesla that’s actually stuck, GM reaches a sales milestone, and we get a brand-new title sponsor!

Today’s episode is the first with our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems.

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonusLucid proves than an EV company can keep its promises while Xiaomi teams up with Chevrolet and Honda to prove – at least conceptually – that records are made to be broken. audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news!

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Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!

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Environment

This ‘supercharger on wheels’ brings fast charging to you [update]

Published

5 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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This 'supercharger on wheels' brings fast charging to you [update]

Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”

November 4, 2024 update: Yoshi Mobility will only be charging EVs on the side of the road now – it announced today that it’s selling its fleet fueling operation to EZFill Holdings (Nasdaq: EZFL).

It was originally founded as a direct-to-consumer, mobile fueling business in 2016, but now it’s going to focus on mobile EV charging, virtual vehicle inspections for partners like Uber and Turo, and onsite preventative maintenance.

Bryan Frist, Yoshi Mobility’s CEO & cofounder, said, “By spinning off our fuel business and focusing all of our energy on solving hair-on-fire problems that fleet owners face, we are meeting the changing needs of enterprise customers while making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.”

May 22, 2024: Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.

“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.

The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I asked for more details, and they replied that they won’t disclose client names or the manufacturer of its DC fast charger yet.)

Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)

Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.

The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.

To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.

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Environment

Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Published

5 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Marqeta celebrates its initial public offering at the Nasdaq on June 9, 2021.

Source: The Nasdaq

Marqeta shares tumbled more than 30% in extended trading on Monday after the company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter.

Here’s how the company did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Loss per share: 6 cents adjusted vs. a loss of 5 cents expected
Revenue: $128 million vs. $128.1 million expected

While third-quarter results showed a slight disappointment on the top and bottom lines, Marqeta’s forecast for the current period was more concerning.

The payment processing firm said revenue in the fourth quarter will increase 10% to 12% from a year earlier. Analysts were looking for growth of more than 17%, according to LSEG.

Marqeta, which primarily functions as a card-issuing platform, attributed the guidance miss to “heightened scrutiny of the banking environment and specific customer program changes.” The company has been struggling for a while, and its stock is now down more than 80% from its peak in 2021, the year it went public. The stock was down 15% for the year prior to the report.

Total processing volume of $74 billion was up more than 30% from a year earlier. Net revenue and gross profit were up 18% and 24%, respectively.

Marqeta’s digital commerce business sells payment technology designed to detect potential fraud and ensure that money is properly routed. It also issues customized physical cards that look like a credit or debit card that can be used for point-of-sale purchases.

The company has been trying to break into the buy now, pay later business with a recently launched product called Marqeta Flex. The service brings BNPL from lenders such as Affirm or Klarna to any credit card wherever Mastercard and Visa are accepted.

“It’s an orchestration layer, but it’s tied to issuing and processing and disputes and chargebacks,” CEO Simon Khalaf told CNBC at Money2020 in Las Vegas last week. “So it is not actually a Wild West in BNPL. It is actually very well established. And there is a reason why a lot of people are jumping to it.”