DESRI and Meta signed 850 MW of new power purchase agreements across Oklahoma (500 MW), Texas (200 MW), and Mississippi (150 MW), expanding their clean energy partnership to roughly 2.575 GW across nine U.S. states. The agreements support Meta’s growing demand for data center power while helping bring new solar and storage capacity onto regional grids. DESRI expects around 1,110 MW of contracted projects to begin construction this year, with each development projected to create hundreds of jobs and drive local economic activity. The deal further highlights how hyperscalers are continuing to anchor large-scale renewable deployments through long-term contracted offtake agreements.

Arava Power will acquire a 50% stake in OCI Energy’s 670 MW La Salle Solar project in Texas under a newly signed Membership Interest Purchase Agreement. The partners will jointly finance, build, own, and operate the utility-scale solar facility in La Salle County, marking their third collaboration in the Texas renewables market. The project is expected to supply enough electricity to power around 100,000 homes once operational. Construction is targeted to begin by the end of 2026, with commercial operations expected in 2028.

Lightrock and Singapore-based TRIREC launched Accelerate7, a USD $500 million fund focused on scaling clean energy access across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The fund will target growth-stage companies with investments ranging from USD $10 million to USD $50 million, focusing on electricity access, clean cooking, electric mobility, and energy storage. Backers include Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies, and LGT Group. Initial portfolio companies include India’s SolarSquare and Euler Motors, Africa-based Sun King, and clean cooking firm ATEC Global. The fund underscores continued institutional interest in emerging market energy infrastructure and distributed energy platforms.

Lightrock and Singapore-based TRIREC launched Accelerate7, a USD $500 million fund focused on scaling clean energy access across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The fund will target growth-stage companies with investments ranging from USD $10 million to USD $50 million, focusing on electricity access, clean cooking, electric mobility, and energy storage. Backers include Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies, and LGT Group. Initial portfolio companies include India’s SolarSquare and Euler Motors, Africa-based Sun King, and clean cooking firm ATEC Global. The fund underscores continued institutional interest in emerging market energy infrastructure and distributed energy platforms.

Clean energy finance startup Crux secured a USD $500 million debt financing facility from Nuveen to scale investments across U.S. renewable energy and infrastructure projects. Founded in 2023, Crux focuses on tax equity and transferable tax credit financing, using AI-powered underwriting and hybrid financing structures to accelerate project deployment. The company says it already has more than USD $1 billion in signed term sheets and over USD $9 billion in investor interest, highlighting growing institutional demand for clean energy financing platforms.

France-based natural hydrogen startup Mantle8 raised €31 million (USD $36 million) in a Series A round to scale its geoscience and exploration platform for naturally occurring hydrogen reservoirs. Founded in 2018, the company develops subsurface imaging and exploration technologies aimed at reducing the cost and risk of identifying commercially viable hydrogen accumulations. Mantle8 says its models project potential production costs as low as €0.80/kg. The round was led by Sandwater and included participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bpifrance, IP Group, Wind Capital, and Calderion. The new capital will fund exploration and drilling campaigns over the next two years as the company advances its global pipeline of natural hydrogen prospects.

AI-powered grid intelligence startup Gridcare raised an oversubscribed USD $64 million Series A led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with participation from John Doerr, National Grid Partners, and Future Energy Ventures. The company uses AI, grid physics, and billions of utility and infrastructure data points to identify underutilized grid capacity and accelerate power access for data centers. Gridcare says its platform can reduce interconnection timelines from years to months by helping developers identify viable power locations earlier in the site selection process. The company is currently supporting projects tied to more than 2 GW of new AI compute capacity across multiple U.S. markets.