A premium is returning for firm power
Buyers with round-the-clock load are paying for generation they can schedule. That is pulling capital toward nuclear, geothermal and multi-day storage rather than additional intermittent capacity.
The signal
Long-term offtake agreements are being signed for firm low-carbon supply by industrial and compute buyers.
Industries involved
Technologies
Small Modular Reactors
Nuclear reactors in the roughly 50–300 MW range, built from factory-produced modules rather than assembled entirely on site.
Long-Duration Storage
Storage that discharges for ten hours or more — iron-air, flow batteries, thermal and mechanical systems — as opposed to the four-hour lithium standard.
Fusion Energy
Generating power by fusing light atomic nuclei, the same process that powers stars, rather than splitting heavy ones.
Companies to watch
Meridian Atomics
Factory-built small modular reactors for industrial sites.
Ottawa, Canada · Founded 2020
Ferrovolt
Multi-day storage using abundant, low-cost materials.
Perth, Australia · Founded 2021
Aerelith Carbon
Direct air capture co-located with geothermal heat and storage.
Reykjavík, Iceland · Founded 2020