It's Monday. The grid delivers AC, the chips run on DC, and data centers pay for the translation several times over. One campus in Inner Mongolia says it has shortened the conversation.
In today's edition:
📅 Event: Grid Innovation Hub coffee meetup at 9Zero, San Francisco, Nov. 12
⚡ Big Story: Envision runs live AI workloads on 800V DC power
🔋 Quick Hits: a battery bolted onto a solar contract, a transformer shake test, enrichment in Ohio
💰 Capital Stack: an Australian super fund lifts its distributed solar bet
📋 Policy Watch: DOE's $237M grid supply program, utility bills on Tuesday's ballot
📊 Chart of the Day: US solar paired with batteries
But first…
📅 Event Announcement: Grid Innovation Coffee Meetup (In-Person)
Presented by Grid Innovation Hub
Thursday, November 12 · In person at 9Zero Climate Innovation Hub, 350 California St, 4th floor, San Francisco · Hosted by Adam Shaw - 9 AM PST
Join fellow grid professionals for an in-person coffee chat on advanced technology strategies and implementations on the power grid. The conversation spans generation, transmission and distribution, grid modernization, project development, operations and compliance, and venture capital, and it runs on crowd-sourced problems rather than slides. No presentations. No sales.
Grid Innovation Hub subscribers are encouraged to register for the next session.
The Big Story
Envision runs AI workloads on an 800V DC power system
Envision says an integrated 800V DC power system is now running live AI computing workloads at its Galaxy campus in Ulanqab, China, and calls it the world's first commercial deployment of the architecture in a large-scale AI data center. Solid-state transformers convert 10 kV medium voltage directly to an 800V DC bus, with battery storage and DC voltage equipment coordinated by Envision's Dubhe controller.
"Our integrated 800V DC system is now powering live computing workloads, demonstrating an end-to-end architecture that connects renewable energy supply with computing demand."
Batteries provide second-scale power support and minute-scale backup, with millisecond-level coordination between the transformers and storage to absorb GPU load swings.
Envision cites higher efficiency, a smaller footprint and less copper, but gave no efficiency figures or megawatt rating for the deployed system.
The campus, operating since August, is planned at 3 GW for up to one million AI accelerators, with more than 80% of power planned from direct renewable connections.
Source: Envision via PR Newswire
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Quick Hits
Small bites from across the grid.
A battery bolted onto a solar contract, a transformer on a shake table, and centrifuges on the move.
SEC Victoria extended its 10-year offtake for the 130 MW Glenrowan solar farm to cover a 102 MW, up-to-four-hour battery retrofit, a deal RenewEconomy calls the first offtake-backed large-scale hybridisation; financial close is expected next year. RenewEconomy
Idaho National Laboratory put a full-scale 224 MVA, 230 kV Siemens Energy transformer through simulated earthquakes on UC San Diego's shake table, testing a bushing decoupler and base isolation; results are not yet published. Renewable Energy World
Centrus Energy shipped the first new centrifuge from Oak Ridge to its Piketon, Ohio enrichment plant, with new capacity expected online in 2029, a step toward domestic HALEU supply. World Nuclear News
Waaree Energies began commercial production on two new Texas module lines with 1.6 GW of combined annual capacity, adding US-made solar supply. Mercom
KenGen lifted Kenya's Olkaria I geothermal plant from 45 MW to 63 MW after a rehabilitation, more firm power from an existing field. ThinkGeoEnergy
The Capital Stack
Australian super fund Rest lifts its distributed solar bet to A$250 million
Australian super fund Rest raised its commitment to Wollemi Energy Group's MPower platform to A$250 million, bringing the platform to A$350 million of committed capital for distributed solar, battery and hybrid systems, RenewEconomy reported.
Source: RenewEconomy
Also in the capital stack:
Group14 Technologies raised a $169 million Series D extension for its silicon battery anode materials, tied to a planned plant in Sagunto, Spain, according to Crunchbase News's weekly tally. Crunchbase News
First Solar cut its 2026 sales guidance to $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion as tariff uncertainty slowed orders, while reporting Q3 net sales of $1.23 billion and a 44 GW backlog. pv magazine
Policy Watch
DOE opened a $237 million Grid SCALED funding opportunity, with up to $50 million to refurbish and reuse grid equipment and up to $187 million for domestic alternative materials and subcomponents, including for transformers; concept papers are due Nov. 20. T&D World
Tuesday's midterms put utility affordability on the ballot, from a Georgia Public Service Commission majority that could flip for the first time in 30 years to a proposed one-year data center moratorium in Florida, Latitude Media reported. Commissioners set rates and large-load tariffs. Latitude Media
ADELAT, a Latin American distributors' group, found that 46% of 25 surveyed distributors do not monitor their operational networks and that none of the 11 countries reviewed treats grid cybersecurity as a separate tariff item, so security spending has no clear recovery path. pv magazine Latam
Chart of the Day:
US solar paired with batteries climbs past 16% of new builds
More than 16% of US utility-scale solar added in 2026 is co-located with battery storage, up from 2% in 2017, according to EIA, which expects the share to top 30% in 2027 and 2028.
Source: CleanTechnica (EIA) · October 30, 2026
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