Welcome to your Friday Rundown, for the week ending March 15. I’m your driver, ClearPath Communications Director Darren Goode. Please let us know of anything we missed at goode@clearpathaction.org. As always, thanks for reading.
COULD THE CLEAN AIR ACT IMPEDE CARBON CAPTURE?
ClearPath Program Director Justin Ong and Policy Analyst Faith Smith in a new blog ponder an increasingly-pertinent question: Could a little-understood EPA regulation under the Clean Air Act unintentionally be a major impediment to building carbon capture projects at scale?
At issue is the New Source Review (NSR) program, which has long been a lightning rod in a larger debate over how aggressive the agency should be in overseeing projects that make modifications to existing power plants and industrial facilities – regardless of their size – from efficiency improvements to emissions controls. The program varies with each administration, making program enforcement incredibly inconsistent. The level of change that is deemed significant to trigger a new round of permitting under NSR is part art, part science.
If NSR is indeed triggered, a whole host of (often unrelated) changes may be required to the facility that makes the original project uneconomic. Violations can result in hefty fines.
Now, amid an escalating debate over how to address the role of industry in curbing climate change, the program should be put under the microscope again as companies look to retrofit their coal and natural gas power plants to include technologies that can capture, store and utilize carbon emissions.
The bills would modify the 48A tax credit to encourage more carbon capture at coal facilities.
The House bill is cosponsored by Reps. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), Marc Veasey (R-Texas), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), and Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.). Senate bill cosponsors include Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
BIPARTISAN ADVANCED NUCLEAR FUELS BILL REINTRODUCED
Reps. Bill Flores (R-Texas) and Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) reintroduced their Advanced Nuclear Fuel Availability Act (H.R. 1760), which would direct DOE to establish a program supporting availability of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HA-LEU) via public-private partnerships to address regulatory and market challenges.
This bill, which the House approved last Congress, addresses the critical lapse in domestic supply of the HA-LEU that will be needed to fuel most advanced reactors being designed. Filling this supply here would allow the U.S. to take a major step toward catching up with China and Russia , who have been trying to corner the advanced reactor technology and fuel market.
ClearPath Action advisor and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifield co-authored a white paper sponsored by ClearPath and the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council that urged lawmakers, policymakers and the NRC to take prompt steps to ensure adequate supply of HA-LEU or risk continued progress in deploying the next generation of U.S. nuclear power.
U.S. and global energy leaders gathered in Houston for IHS Markit’s CERAWeek, with ramped up discussion on developing the next generation of clean and reliable power.
On a panel with Department of Energy Loan Programs Office Executive Director John Sneed and others, ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell stressed that one key to financing energy innovation is setting moonshot goals to prioritize efforts.
“We need clear objective goals. We don’t have that right now,” Rich said. “We have a lot of federal programs and funding streams and we’re getting innovative technology out of that. But we aren’t focused on a specific objective where we can train all our resources and effort and come out the other end with the desired technology.”
That focus should crisscross both public and private investments, he said. “We need to establish specific outcomes and then align all the tools and resources of DOE to achieving that outcome.”
Meanwhile, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and ranking member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) shared the main stage and gave a plea for bipartisan dialogue on climate change. That, in turn, could lead to “pragmatic solutions” and technologies that can lower carbon and be sensitive and positive for the economy, including carbon capture, advanced nuclear and energy storage, Murkowski said.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry also cited carbon capture and small modular reactor technologies as examples of a “new American energy era” where U.S. energy independence is a reality rather than merely a soundbite. “We need to support more innovation, not less of it,” he said.
CERAWeek also showcased efforts major oil and gas companies are taking. BP CEO Bob Dudley urged lawmakers to spend more on carbon capture technologies to make them more commercially viable. “Our focus has to be on developing an energy system that is cleaner, better and kinder to the planet,” he said.
ClearPath joined an 88-member coalition asking congressional appropriators and other leaders to boost ARPA-E next fiscal year to at least $400 million.
“ARPA-E plays a unique and critical role in maintaining America’s global leadership in energy technologies,” the groups wrote. A roughly $35 million increase from current funding would allow for one additional program solicitation to pioneer advances in a high-impact energy technology area.
Despite being just 10 years old, ARPA-E is already fostering technological breakthroughs in energy storage, transportation fuels, and industrial efficiency. “The importance of U.S. leadership in energy technologies to our economic and energy security makes ARPA-E a tremendous competitive advantage for our nation,” they wrote. “Stable and sustained funding growth is necessary to ensure this successful program continues to enhance America’s ability to pioneer the energy technologies of tomorrow.”
NEWS NUGGETS
The U.S. energy storage market is expected to double for the second year in a row in 2019, according to a new Wood Mackenzie forecast. U.S. energy storage deployments hit 777 megawatt-hours in 2018 and grid-connected storage is forecast to be 1,681 MWh this year.
The economic impact of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory topped $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2017, according to a study by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
THE PATH AHEAD
MARCH 28 The Carbon Utilization Research Council, Global CCS Institute and Carbon Capture Coalition host the first of a series of Carbon Lunches (co-sponsored by ClearPath and others), a set of educational briefings on carbon capture, use and storage. The initial briefing at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center will feature senior officials at the International Energy Agency, C2ES, Global CCS Institute and World Resources Institute. RSVP
