PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES
Cyclic lands $75M for rare earth buildout(opens in new tab)
Cyclic Materials Inc. secured $75 million in strategic growth financing to advance its South Carolina campus and expand domestic recovery and production infrastructure for critical materials used across advanced manufacturing.
SK hynix Inc. held a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday, Aug. 27, for its advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility for artificial intelligence memory in Purdue Research Park. Announced in April 2024, the over $4 billion project marks SK hynix’s first high bandwidth memory production hub established in the U.S.
Jalisco launches Mexico’s first solar panel recycling plant(opens in new tab)
Mexico’s first specialized solar panel recycling plant has been established in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco. The project was launched through a joint initiative between Rafiqui, a nonprofit association comprising approximately 17 solar industry companies, and the Jalisco state government.
ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS
Four South American nations sign strategic minerals pact(opens in new tab)
Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru signed a joint declaration to strengthen regional cooperation on strategic minerals, particularly copper and lithium. The declaration aims to promote responsible investment, strengthen regional supply chains, and deepen cooperation on geological information, regulation, and tech development.
NETL and EMSL collaborating to advance sources of critical minerals(opens in new tab)
Experts from the National Energy Technology Laboratory are collaborating with the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory on a community science campaign to identify, characterize, and process domestic sources of critical minerals, including rare earth elements.
Army reaches agreement with private industry for nuclear microreactors(opens in new tab)
The U.S. Department of the Army announced that the Janus Program has selected five nuclear energy vendors and five initial locations. The Janus Program is a U.S. Army initiative to deploy commercial nuclear microreactors on domestic military bases to provide secure, continuous off-grid power.
Xanadu Quantum Technologies Ltd., a photonic quantum computing company, announced the next phase of its collaboration with Mitsubishi Chemical to advance semiconductor fabrication technologies using quantum computing algorithms. This next phase is supported by national innovation programs from both the Canadian and Japanese governments.
OTHER STORIES
Canada hits back at the US with tariffs as the countries’ trade fight escalates(opens in new tab)
Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on hundreds of U.S. goods last week as the two countries fell deeper into a trade fight. Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the countermeasures will match U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar, rate for rate,” with tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on a range of exports from the U.S., effective September 8.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will address the European Parliament in September, a high-profile visit that underscores Canada’s push to deepen ties with Europe following the escalating trade war with the U.S.
South African miners accelerate shift to renewable power to cut Eskom reliance(opens in new tab)
South Africa’s mining firms are accelerating investment in renewable energy as they seek to diversify power sources, cut costs, and meet decarbonization targets, marking a shift after decades of reliance on state utility Eskom.
In the Amazon and Congo rainforests, investigative journalists are using satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to expose groups that operate in secret, extracting gold and minerals from some of the world’s most remote regions.
MARKET TRENDS
Solar PV panels: End-of-life management for a circular economy(opens in new tab)
In a recent report, the International Renewable Energy Agency warns that the rapid growth of solar photovoltaic capacity worldwide will create a major end-of-life waste challenge in the coming decades, making circular economy policies increasingly important for the solar industry.
The 46 companies scrambling to commercialize fusion for energy(opens in new tab)
According to the Fusion Industry Association, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., 46 companies around the world are hotly pursuing fusion for electricity generation. A Nature article overviews where each of these companies stand on the path to achieving their goals.
Sand overextraction weakening riverbanks as concrete demand soars(opens in new tab)
A study published in Reviews of Geophysics shows that the demand for sand and gravel has more than doubled in the last two decades, with overextraction leading to weaker riverbanks, lower groundwater levels, coastal salt intrusion, and poorer water quality.
NEW PRODUCTS
Freyr Energy launches silicon carbide inverters for residential applications(opens in new tab)
Freyr Energy launched a new range of single-phase solar inverters for residential rooftop applications in India. Available in 3 kW and 5 kW variants, the inverters use silicon carbide technology and include digital monitoring features.
‘World first’ as recycled glass innovation approved for Scottish housing scheme(opens in new tab)
VASO Global’s technology allows buildings to be built using panels manufactured from recycled glass. The innovation was given the green light for an affordable housing project on a brownfield site at Closeburn, north of Dumfries.
Author
Lisa McDonald
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