I’ve been busy covering clean technologies, including a synfuel project in Iceland that gets a hydropower boost, nickel-zinc energy storage for data centers and new initiatives that allow homeowners with qualifying electric vehicles (EV) to earn income through programs like ConnectedSolutions.
Iceland Project Tests Synfuel Production that Integrates Geothermal Energy
In Iceland, which has vast geothermal resources, Syntholene Energy, with support from Idaho National Laboratory, is testing synfuel production that combines geothermal heat with high-temperature electrolysis. The company says its synfuel is 70% less expensive than synfuels produced using other clean energy options and could reach price parity with fossil fuels in about 10 years.
While Iceland has plenty of water resources, water management will be critical as it rolls out its product commercially to other, less water-rich regions, said Dan Sutton, co-founder and CEO at Syntholene Energy.
Listen to the podcast: Iceland Project Tests Synfuel Production That Integrates Geothermal
Small-Footprint Zinc Battery for Large Power Pulses in AI Data Centers
A report from consultant Wood Mackenzie pointed to the dangers of bursts of power demand in AI data centers.
ZincFive says it has an answer. The company’s nickel-zinc energy storage provides short, high-power dischages for data centers to address AI power surges and also provides outage backup. The Oregon-based business has deployed 2 GW of its product, saw its annual revenue doubling from 2024 to approximately $66.9 million in 2025 and has plans to go public.
Tod Higinbotham, CEO of ZincFive, explains the company’s technology, describes its partnership with Spark I Acquisition and says why the company believes ZincFive’s storage is less expensive than lithium-ion based batteries.
How EV Owners Can Reap Income When Their Cars Serve as Mobile Microgrids
Bidirectional electric vehicles (EV) are seen as key to shoring up the grid by storing and delivering energy via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) programs.
This was once a wild idea, but it’s coming to fruition and beginning to deliver income to EV drivers through several new pilot projects that take advantage of incentives such as California’s Emergency Load Reduction Program and New England’s ConnectedSolutions program.
For example, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has rolled out three pilot programs that use bidirectional EVs to absorb energy into their batteries when it’s less expensive, then release it to the grid, office building or home when rates are high, lowering energy costs and supporting the grid when it’s strained.
Read the story: How EV Owners Reap Income When Their Cars serve as Mobile Microgrids in V2G Pilots