RICH POWELL TO TESTIFY ON INNOVATIVE CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell will testify at a May 15 House Ways and Means hearing about how innovation – including next-generation advanced nuclear, carbon capture, energy storage and other technologies – can mitigate climate change and give the U.S. a leading edge in a reliable, affordable and clean global power grid. The hearing starts at 10am Wednesday.
DIGGING DEEP FOR CLEAN ENERGY
Geothermal production could be greatly expanded from a mainly isolated Western power source to a cost-effective clean energy juggernaut across much of the U.S. Tapping into that expansion would mean the ability to not just use existing underground reservoirs but also next-generation fracturing technologies that can create new reservoirs deeper below the surface.
The reforms needed to spur enhanced geothermal include offering some of the same exemptions from National Environmental Policy Act reviews as afforded certain oil and natural gas production.
Our in-house innovation policy expert Spencer Nelson has dug into the details of regulatory reforms that could help unlock additional deployment.
CLEAN ENERGY TOOLS HIGHLIGHTED AT DOE BUDGET HEARING
Members of both parties on the House Energy and Commerce Committee signaled a willingness at a May 9 budget hearing to continue working with the Department of Energy on carbon capture, advanced nuclear, energy storage and other clean power R&D.
Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) noted DOE’s help in crafting his bipartisan bill with Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) that passed the House unanimously last year and would ensure a domestic supply of the high-assay low-enriched uranium (HA-LEU) needed to fuel many advanced nuclear reactors.
“These small modular reactors, we truly believe that that is the answer to being able to have a reasonably-priced, sustainable civil nuclear program in the United States,” Perry told Flores. “Having that fuel available by a domestically-owned company is very important. Without the fuel, you’re wasting your time with all the other work that you’re doing.” Flores said he will try to get his bill (H.R. 1760) with McNerney “back on the table before too long.”
Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.) asked about the work DOE is helping on creating grid-scale storage solutions, including pilot projects. Perry noted partnerships between national labs and the private sector means “the holy grail of battery storage will be found in the not too distant future.”
As ClearPath policy analyst Faith Smith outlined in a recent blog, DOE’s FY20 budget proposal includes a new Advanced Energy Storage Initiative across multiple DOE offices, as well as a new “launchpad” hosted at Pacific Northwest National Lab focused on testing and evaluating battery and potentially other grid-scale storage materials and systems.
Energy and Commerce ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) praised Perry’s announcement last week that the world’s fastest supercomputer will be built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by 2021. The machine, dubbed Frontier, will be built by chip designer AMD and supercomputer manufacturer Cray and is expected to produce more than 1.5 exaflops of processing power.
“Originally developed for weapons work, DOE’s supercomputers now promise tremendous advances across the agency’s missions and national priorities, from carbon-free fossil energy to helping cure diseases,” Walden said.
Walden also noted legislation the committee helped shepherd through last Congress, including ensuring DOE “is able to develop the infrastructure for advanced nuclear energy currently being pursued by companies” such as Oregon-based NuScale Power, as well as carbon capture and streamlining liquefied natural gas and nuclear technology exports.
Perry told the panel he will not oppose any LNG export proposal under his watch.
RELATED NEWS
The House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee will mark up its FY20 spending bill Wednesday, starting at noon.
ExxonMobil announced it will invest about $100 million over 10 years in emissions-reduction technologies at some of the nation’s top energy research labs. The oil and gas giant said the funds will go the U.S. Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory for research into biofuels and carbon capture and storage projects in the power generation, transportation and industrial sectors.
William Cooper was sworn in May 9 as DOE’s general counsel. Cooper, a previous senior House aide and president of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, was approved by the Senate energy panel back in March alongside Rita Baranwal to head DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, Chris Fall to lead the Office of Science and Lane Genatowski to head ARPA-E. Cooper is the only one of that group of nominees so far to be confirmed by the Senate.
The House Science Committee May 1 approved legislation to direct the Secretary of Energy to include water into the DOE’s research, development and demonstration programs. This includes RD&D through advanced cooling technologies for carbon capture systems utilizing water, as well as improving water use data for energy generation and fuel production. The bill does this in part by creating a subcommittee overseeing this nexus between water use and energy generation on the Department of Energy’s Energy Advisory Board as well as other relevant agencies and organizations.
WEDNESDAY Senate Environment and Public Works Committee oversight hearing on the White House Council on Environmental Quality. CEQ Chairman Mary Neumayr will testify.
THURSDAY Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on carbon capture, utilization and storage programs and S. 1201, the Enhancing Fossil Fuel Energy Carbon Technology Act. Witnesses include Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg and 8 Rivers Capital Principal and Policy Director (and ClearPath alum) Adam Goff.
THURSDAY The Atlantic Council Global Energy Center hosts a discussion on “The Future of Energy Storage.” Quartz Senior Reporter and Global Energy Center Senior Fellow Akshat Rathi moderates a panel featuring Wood Mackenzie Energy Storage Analyst Mitalee Gupta and Carnegie Mellon University Assistant Professor Venkat Viswanathan.
MAY 21 Atlantic Council Global Energy Center hosts an event at the Senate Visitor Center to launch its new report, US Nuclear Energy Leadership: Innovation and the Strategic Global Challenge. Speakers include Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
MAY 23 Carnegie Mellon University’s Wilton E Scott Institute for Energy Innovation hosts a Capitol Hill briefing on how fuel cells could impact vehicles, buildings and utilities.
