Recent export restrictions by China on key rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium have brought renewed attention to the global importance of these materials. As China implements new licensing requirements, particularly for elements used in high-performance magnets, manufacturers worldwide are confronting the reality that access to certain critical inputs can no longer be taken for granted. These restrictions ....
According to a recent report from the US Energy Information Administration, though 2024 saw record-setting levels of energy consumption, demand isn’t slowing down anytime soon. This comes less than six months after a separate reportestimated the US grid would need to increase its capacity to generate and deliver electricity by 16 percent in the next four years to keep pace with growing energy needs. Simply put, the count....
In an era marked by increasingly severe weather from Mother Nature, utilities face mounting pressure to enhance the resiliency and reliability of their power delivery systems. While icing of the wind turbine blades has been discussed extensively, the physical means of distributing that energy has been addressed far less. Just as wind farms components are adopting the latest technologies to modernize their fleets and extend life expectan....
Ensuring the reliability and efficiency of wind turbines requires a deep understanding of the fluids that keep them running smoothly. To that end, compatibility testing plays a critical role in preventing costly issues that arise from mixing incompatible lubricants. This article explores the significance of fluid compatibility testing in industries such as power generation, highlighting its ability to enhance equipment reliability, reduce mainten....
Energy Storage
Craig Tropea
Solar
Jonathan Lwowski
Solar
Steve Macshane, CESSWI
Governor Tony Evers, together with Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and company officials, announced that Yaskawa America Inc. will invest at least $180 million and create more than 700 new high-paying jobs in Wisconsin.
Yaskawa America is experiencing significant growth driven by innovation in robotics, motion control, AC drives, and solar inverters. The company's newest investment in Wisconsin will consolidate its Illinois and Wisconsin facilities into one campus in Franklin, Wisconsin, over the next 8-10 years. The project includes relocating its North American headquarters and training facility from Waukegan, IL.
“I am really excited to be celebrating Yaskawa's decision to relocate its headquarters to Wisconsin and expand its footprint here in the Badger State, bringing with them millions of dollars in capital investment in Southeastern Wisconsin and hundreds of high-quality, family-supporting jobs,” said Gov. Evers. “Companies from across the globe are choosing Wisconsin to grow and expand because they know we have the best workers making the best products. Wisconsin is continuing to strengthen our position as a leader in advanced manufacturing, and we're glad to help support this expansion and Yaskawa's continued success in our state.”
This expansion marks a significant milestone as Yaskawa Electric Corporation celebrates its 110th anniversary globally, and Yaskawa America, Inc. celebrates 58 years of sales, innovation, manufacturing, and service in the United States. The Yaskawa America business manufactures industrial robots, motion control products, low and medium voltage AC drives, and solar inverters for numerous industries, including semiconductor, solar, machine tool, automotive, HVAC, pumping, oil and gas, and others. With this expansion, the company will also begin manufacturing robots in Franklin that will be shipped directly to customers or integrated into production lines at their Ohio facility.
“The Drives & Motion Division of Yaskawa America, Inc. is proud to announce the unification of all its current manufacturing and office locations in Wisconsin and Illinois into a single, consolidated campus in Franklin,” said Mike Knapek, CEO of Yaskawa America. “We take pride in our cutting-edge technology, our commitment to quality, and our world-class manufacturing, and we look forward to a strong future of growth and innovation in Franklin.”
Governor Evers announced that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) is supporting the project by authorizing up to $18 million performance-based Enterprise Zone tax credits. The actual amount of tax credits received is contingent upon the number of jobs created and the amount of capital investment during that period.
“Yaskawa joins the growing roster of innovative global companies that are choosing to grow in Wisconsin,” said Missy Hughes, WEDC secretary and CEO. “With their emphasis on advanced manufacturing and cutting-edge technology, they are a perfect fit for our state.”
The new campus will include a headquarters, training, and lab building, manufacturing and packaging facilities, and robotics and semiconductor production operations. It will encompass over 800,000 square feet, strengthening Wisconsin's position in advanced manufacturing. Yaskawa is the latest company to invest in Franklin. “It has been a pleasure working with the Yaskawa team to develop their incredible corporate vision in the Franklin Business Park,” said John Nelson, City of Franklin Mayor. “Yaskawa has been a wonderful community partner, and we are grateful they selected Franklin for this project, which is something we are certainly celebrating.” Milwaukee 7 (M7), southeast Wisconsin's regional economic development organization, also assisted in the company's expansion efforts.
“We're delighted that Yaskawa has chosen southeast Wisconsin for its expansion and for the new location of its North American headquarters," said Gale Klappa, co-chair of Milwaukee 7 and Chairman of the Board of WEC Energy Group. "This exciting investment – announced today &endash; is a testament to the region's strengths in automation and advanced manufacturing.” About Yaskawa America, Inc.
Yaskawa America's Drives & Motion Division manufactures industrial automation equipment, including low and medium-voltage variable speed drives, servo motors and amplifiers, machine controllers, spindle drives and motors, and low-voltage industrial switch products. The company's Motoman Robotics Division makes industrial robots that can weld, assemble, cut, and handle goods for manufacturers.
Yaskawa | https://www.yaskawa.com
LF Energy, the open source foundation focused on harnessing the power of collaborative open technologies and standards to accelerate the energy transition, is pleased to announce the lineup of sessions for LF Energy Summit Europe, taking place September 10-11, 2025 in Aachen, Germany. The summit will gather members of the LF Energy community including foundation members, developers, vendors, utilities, and other stakeholders to learn about LF Energy and its projects as well as to collaborate and share best practices for developing and implementing open source technologies and standards in the energy sector.
The agenda includes over 75 breakout sessions over two days. Highlights include:
Keynotes, including presentations from a range of electrical utilities along with Accenture, Hitachi, and LF Energy Executive Director Alex Thornton, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Other activities offered to attendees of LF Energy Summit include a series of technical workshops and demonstrations of LF Energy’s suite of over 35 open source technologies for energy systems, in addition to numerous networking opportunities.
Event registration is now open. Early bird pricing of $350 ends July 6. Sponsorship opportunities are still available.
LF Energy Summit Europe 2025 is made possible thanks to Diamond Sponsor Accenture, Platinum Sponsors Google, INESC TEC, and SOPTIM, Gold Sponsors Ecophi and Hitachi, and Silver Sponsor Savoir-faire Linux.
Video recordings of LF Energy Summit 2024 can be viewed on-demand here.
LF Energy | https://www.lfenergy.org
Linux Foundation | linuxfoundation.org
Stryten Energy LLC, a leading U.S.-based energy storage solutions provider, is pleased to announce that its M-Series Li600 batteries are now certified as an approved lithium-ion battery for Hyster Power Cellect and Yale Power Key equipped trucks.
Stryten Energy’s M-Series Li600 lithium-ion batteries utilize proven lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology, enabling faster charging, greater efficiency and increased cycle life, all in a maintenance-free package.
“Stryten Energy has been a valued supplier for our Aftersales Program for many years, and we’re thrilled to expand that relationship with the introduction of the new Li600 lithium batteries,” said Sarah McLawhorn, Senior Director, Aftersales Sales & Marketing, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling. “Having this product qualified for compatibility with our Hyster Power Cellect and Yale Power Key equipped trucks is a significant step forward. This addition enhances Stryten Energy’s already robust lineup of motive power solutions, giving our Hyster and Yale dealer network and end-users even more flexibility to meet their evolving materials handling needs.”
M-Series Li600 Battery
When used in combination with a qualified lithium-ion battery, Hyster Power Cellect or Yale Power Key establishes an electronic CANbus handshake between the battery and the truck. This enables real-time communication of battery state of charge, early warning systems, battery protection systems, and battery information tracking via Hyster Tracker or Yale Vision.
“We’re excited to partner with Hyster-Yale to bring Stryten Energy’s lithium-ion battery technology to their lift truck lineup,” said Matt Gould, Vice President of Industrial Sales and Service at Stryten Energy. “Integrating our M-Series Li600 lithium batteries with Hyster Power Cellect and Yale Power Key equipped trucks delivers enhanced performance, reliability and efficiency for their customers.”
About the Li600 Lithium Batteries:
Click here to learn more about Stryten Energy’s M-Series Li600 battery for material handling applications.
Stryten Energy | www.stryten.com
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling | www.hyster-yale.com
Twenty-seven teams of high school students from across the United States are preparing to head to Texas for the 32nd annual Solar Car Challenge, when they will race around Texas Motor Speedway for four days to see which team’s car goes the greatest distance. The race begins Sunday, July 20.
The Solar Car Challenge, which won the 2024 D CEO Nonprofit and Corporate Citizenship Awards’ Innovation in Education category, was established in 1993 by educator Dr. Lehman Marks. The program is designed to motivate students in science, engineering and alternative energy. Preparations for this year’s race began with educational workshops last September, though it can take teams two to three years to see their ideas come to fruition.
Students built these cars using their own ideas and starting from scratch. Before the race, their cars will face “scrutineering” – rigorous evaluation by a panel of experienced judges – at the speedway from July 17-19.
During the race, car breakdowns, weather conditions and team experience will limit the number of miles a team can drive each day. The team driving the most miles accumulated over the four days of racing at Texas Motor Speedway will be declared the winner.
“The Solar Car Challenge has been named one of the top Science and Engineering programs in the country by Science & Technology magazine,” Marks said. “We teach the kids how to build a plan, come up with a budget, fundraise, how to engineer the car and manage the project, all while they’re learning about how to harness energy from the sun to make a car go down the road.”
This year’s Solar Car Challenge will feature 27 teams from nine states, including 13 teams from Texas, six teams from California, two from Kentucky and one each from Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri and Washington. The Challenge has 261 high school solar car projects in various stages of development in 39 states, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Spain and Singapore.
Continuing its global efforts, Solar Car Challenge will have observers from China attending the 2025 race with the intention of participating in 2026. Solar Car Challenge also has a cooperative effort with the Arab Renewable Energy Commission, which represents 22 countries in the Middle East.
A cross-country version of the race occurs biannually, with alternating years showcasing cars on the track at Texas Motor Speedway.
The 2025 race will feature a new racing division – Cruiser – which requires cars to have four doors with the solar array embedded in the body of the solar car.
“This is the brain sport,” Marks said. “It’s not just about building the car, but how to drive that car, solve the inevitable problems that happen with the car, and keeping your team intact through four grueling days of racing. Doing the Solar Car Challenge makes these students better equipped to face the challenges they’ll have in life.”
Solar Car Challenge | https://www.solarcarchallenge.org/challenge/media.shtml.
Factorial, a leader in solid-state battery technology, announced the launch of Gammatron, a proprietary AI-driven simulation platform designed to accelerate the development of next-generation batteries by improving how battery performance is predicted, validated, and optimized. Born out of Factorial’s own R&D experience, Gammatron was built as a necessity-driven tool to address critical delays in battery development. Unlike traditional AI platforms focused solely on system-level modeling, Gammatron fuses electrochemistry, thermodynamics, and high-fidelity lab data – to simulate and optimize battery behavior at both the material and cell-system level.
“Validating a new cell design can take years, but with Gammatron, we’ve demonstrated that we can dramatically shorten that timeline—forecasting long-term performance from just two weeks of early testing, instead of the typical three to six months,” said Siyu Huang, CEO of Factorial. “By combining automation with data-driven insights, we’re accelerating development with greater speed and control.”
Key capabilities of Gammatron include:
Used in Factorial’s joint development with Stellantis, Gammatron helped forecast battery performance before full test completion – a key factor in advancing the validation program ahead of its original schedule. In some cases, Gammatron™-enabled protocol tuning has doubled cycle life without altering cell chemistry.
“Batteries are complex dynamic chemical systems. Gammatron combines machine learning with scientific feature engineering. Where most platforms hit a wall with shallow machine learning, Gammatron goes deeper and shows engineers which material and design changes will unlock longer life and higher performance,” said Raimund Koerver, VP of Business Development at Factorial. “It’s not just about predicting outcomes – it’s about enabling better ones.”
Developed to strengthen Factorial’s core focus on next-generation battery cells, this technology plays a critical supporting role in streamlining customer qualification, enhancing overall cell performance, and accelerating internal development. By integrating advanced capabilities such as material screening, battery cell digital twins, and cell manufacturing traceability, it enables more efficient, data-driven innovation across the battery lifecycle.
Initially launching as a tech-enabled service, Gammatron will be operated in-house for co-development with select partners. The platform is available for solid-state battery development and legacy lithium-ion programs.
Gammatron will be showcased at the upcoming MOVE London conference as part of Factorial’s collaboration with Stellantis.
Founded | www.factorialenergy.com
SEG Solar ("SEG"), a leading U.S.-based PV module manufacturer, announced the successful completion of its first transaction for the sale of Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credits, with a total value of up to $50 million. The transaction closed, and the first funding occurred, on June 6, 2025. The tax credits originate from SEG Solar's 2025 module production at its manufacturing factory in Houston, Texas. Under the agreement, a U.S. public company will pay SEG a price of $0.94 per $1.00 of tax credit value across four installments tied to actual production output and sales of solar modules.
Jim Wood, CEO of SEG Solar, said: "We are thrilled to have finalized our first Section 45X tax credit sale, marking a major financial milestone for our company. This transaction provides us with significant cash flow, strengthens our financial position and enables us to further accelerate our investment in U.S. manufacturing. By expanding our production capacity and deepening our domestic partnerships, we are not only advancing clean energy innovation but also contributing meaningfully to job creation and long-term economic growth."
This deal follows months of strategic efforts by SEG to strengthen its domestic operations and contribute to building a more resilient domestic solar supply chain. It also demonstrates strong market confidence in the reliability of SEG production output and the Section 45X credit transfer mechanism, especially for credits backed by U.S.-manufactured module technology.
The tax credits are directly tied to the volume of solar modules produced in 2025 at SEG's facility in Houston, Texas. With a total investment exceeding $60 million, the manufacturing facility has achieved an annual production capacity of 2 GW through two state-of-the-art fully automated production lines. This enables SEG to strengthen its commitment to providing developers and project owners with reliable, high-quality modules featuring the highest possible level of domestic content.
The transaction was facilitated by Moss Adams LLP (n/k/a Baker Tilly Advisory Group).
SEG Solar | https://www.segsolar.com/
ENGIE North America (ENGIE) announced that as part of an increasing approach to circularity, it will pilot a new precycling provision to incorporate solar panel and project component recycling into initial agreements at four projects. The innovative approach was developed in cooperation with SOLARCYCLE, a leading technology-based solar panel recycler. The precycling provision incorporates recycling into power purchase agreements and helps developers incorporate end-of-life material recycling at the start of the project's lifecycle. This is especially relevant for energy buyers focused on project circularity and sustainability goals.
The agreements ensure that around one million panels from 375 megawatts (MW) of projects across the Midwest be recycled when they reach the end of their life, supporting full circularity of the projects. SOLARCYCLE estimates that by doing so, the company will divert 48 million pounds of material from landfills and avoid some 33,000 tons of carbon emissions. Additionally, to the maximum degree possible, all construction waste and system components will be recycled.
"We are delighted to bring this innovative approach to life. Our collaboration with SOLARCYCLE demonstrates the shared commitment we have to the long-term sustainability of our industry," said Caroline Mead, SVP Power Marketing, ENGIE North America.
As demand for power in the U.S. increases, domestic clean energy is essential to meeting energy capacity requirements. This collaboration between ENGIE and SOLARCYCLE means that the solar panel and system components on these projects will have full traceability to ensure circularity goals are met and ultimately returned into the domestic supply chain to help form the next generation of clean energy materials. The commitment is made possible by SOLARCYCLE's advanced tracking capabilities that guarantee every panel on the projects is recycled and that the recovered material is returned to the supply chain.
"ENGIE's precycling provision sets a new precedent for the utility-scale solar industry by proving that circular economy principles can be achieved without complex regulatory intervention and in a way that doesn't require an up-front payment. We're happy to work creatively with leaders like ENGIE to support their commitment to circularity, domestic energy, and sustainability," said Jesse Simons, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at SOLARCYCLE.
These initial projects are expected to be completed over the next couple of years and will add to the more than 12 gigawatts (GW) of wind, solar and battery storage operated by ENGIE in North America.
ENGIE North America I www.engie-na.com
SOLARCYCLE | www.solarcycle.us
Energy Storage Jun 18, 2025
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