CTC #51 - Nàdarra’s new fund backs food biotech & Heliene lands $170M to grow solar biz

Hey there,

Welcome to another issue of Climate Tech Canada! It’s an eventful week in climate, with Climate Week NYC and the UN’s Climate Ambition Summit both in full swing. Both PM Trudeau and environment minister Guilbeault will be in town for the UN summit. 

Also making headlines - the International Energy Agency’s annual World Energy Outlook is out, with the head of the agency projecting global demand for fossil fuel could peak by the end of the decade. 

This week in Canadian climate tech:

• Summit Nanotech ramps up for Series B fundraising

• GM, overwhelmed by battery demand, closes e-cargo van plant in Ontario

• A new fund focused on sustainable food biotechnology

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💰 Funding

☀️ Heliene (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) secured $170M US in funding to expand its solar manufacturing business. The funding was made up of $20M in equity and $150M in debt with participation from Orion Infrastructure Capital, 2Shores Capital and two of Heliene’s customers. The fresh capital will be used to build two new 300 MW manufacturing lines in Minnesota and Sault St. Marie.

🪨 Arca (Vancouver, BC) received a $1.25M grant from the B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy to help commercialize its carbon capture solution. Arca captures carbon using mineralization, a natural process that turns CO2 into a solid material when certain rocks are exposed to it. Arca’s process is a double benefit in that it uses the waste from critical mineral mining for mineralization, lowering the carbon footprint of mining.

🧪 Nàdarra Ventures (Halifax, NS) launched its new biotech fund with a founding investment of $20M from Farm Credit Canada and Natural Products Canada. Nàdarra’s fund is tackling food insecurity and climate change by investing in sustainable biotechnology for food, agriculture and materials. The fund is focused on early Series A with cheques between $1-3M. 

🔋 Summit Nanotech (Calgary, AB) is preparing to raise it’s Series B to scale up lithium extraction from brines in South America. Summit’s technology captures the lithium ion in salt brines using nanotechnology, returning the remaining brine back to the water table. Summit is opening a new test facility in Santiago, Chile and expects to open commercial facilities in 2025.

📈 Milestones & Growth

Vicinity Motors opened its e-truck assembly in Washington state that will produce up to 7,000 commercial vehicles per year.

Calgary’s Kathairos has abated more than 40,000 tons of CO2 in its first year by replacing methane venting its liquid nitrogen solution at oil & gas wells.

Hempalta, a producer of innovative hemp products, can now claim carbon credits for the carbon sequestered in their products.

Off-grid solar management startup Otonomi Solutions will expand Canada-wide in a new partnership with Trans-Canada Energies Distribution.

Dual Fluid, a developer of novel nuclear generation technology, is partnering with the government of Rwanda to build a demonstration reactor in the country.

Montreal’s Pyrowave successfully replaced virgin polystyrene with its recycled product in tests with Michelin tires and Knauf food packaging.

☕ Here & there

• An on the ground look at the communities caught up in a renewables backlash 

• Stars are calling for TIFF to drop RBC for its involvement in fossil fuels

• Danielle Smith is embracing electric vehicles, just not the ones you think

• Podcast: GHGSat’s Stephane Germain on scaling a space-based business

🌎 In the news

NATIONAL

The federal and Alberta governments are looking at claiming carbon credits for exported natural gas that other countries could use to ditch coal. It’s an approach that runs counter to the Paris Agreement and would require buy-in from importing countries.

The National Observer has a preview of climate policy to watch when Parliament reconvenes, including the Sustainable Jobs Act and the oil & gas emissions cap.

The feds announced $175M for 12 clean energy projects in Alberta. Projects include wind, solar generation and microgrids.

12 interdisciplinary project teams will receive almost $70M to turn genomics research into solutions for sustainable food production. 

Japan and Canada plan to cooperate on battery storage supply chains in an effort to diversify Japan’s supply chain. The two countries will meet later this week.

PROVINCIAL

GM closed its electric cargo van assembly plant in Ingersol, ON after running into a battery shortage. GM has a single factory that produces the Ultium battery used in the vans. The entire workforce at the plant was laid off, with production expected to resume in early 2024.

Ontario’s Algoma University is partnering with Indigenous Clean Energy to give students opportunities to work on the group’s clean energy projects.

The city of Toronto will consider a proposal to require all vehicles-for-hire to be zero emissions by 2031. 

Australian energy and metals company Fortescue is proposing a 1,000MW green hydrogen hub in Prince George, B.C.

Alberta plans to introduce incentives for carbon capture utilitzation and storage (CCUS) incentives in November before COP28.

Alberta also announced $7M in funding to Cenovus to study the potential use of small modular nuclear reactors in the oilsands to reduce production emissions.

📣 What’s going on

💡Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities (CRCC) Program: The CRCC program is seeking applicants to develop regional-scale solutions that increase climate resilience in coastal communities. Applications close Dec 13th.

💡Canada-UK Collaborative Ocean Innovation Solutions Program: This program will support the development of ocean technologies, including alternative energy, seaweed cultivation, carbon capture and more. Applications close Oct 18th.

📅 Innovation in Mining & Minerals Conference: Hosted by CDL-Vancouver, this event brings together industry, academics, and investors to explore the future of mineral exploration. Oct 25th in Vancouver.

📅 Electricity Transformation Canada: This event brings together key players working on renewable energy and storage in Canada. Oct 23-25th in Calgary.

📌 Jobs

Featured postings from some of Canada’s most innovative companies, including Summit Nanotech, GHGSat, Deep Sky and more!

➡️ Hiring? Submit your posting here.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and if you’re enjoying the newsletter, share it with a friend!