Welcome to your Friday Rundown, for the week ending March 1. I’m your driver, ClearPath Communications Director Darren Goode. Please let us know anything we missed at goode@clearpathaction.org. Thanks for reading.
HOW HYDRAULIC FRACTURING CAN PAVE A CLEAN ENERGY PATH
ClearPath Program Director Justin Ong and Production Director Mitch Kersey joined forces with Ron Munson at Cogentiv Solutions (a former technology manager at the Global CCS Institute and a senior engineer contracting to the National Energy Technology Laboratory) to explain the success story of hydraulic fracturing and how it is a model for future public-private partnerships in the clean energy space:
The main conclusion is that advancements made in drilling technologies, hydraulic fracturing, and microseismic imaging that were supported by government programs and initiatives clearly played a pivotal role in advancing technologies that were ultimately integrated and commercialized by industry and that have led to the abundance of U.S. natural gas.
Three significant lessons that can be gleaned from this technology development process are:
Government investment in R&D can reduce risks that industry is unwilling to take on
Public-private partnerships in terms of both investment and research direction throughout the development process is critical
Energy technology development is often a long-term process that can ultimately result in significant economic benefits.
What the shale gas revolution has also proven is that technologies to capture, store and utilize carbon emissions from natural gas generation has already become vital to addressing climate change.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing Wednesday on the bipartisan USE IT Act (S. 383), led by panel Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), which would make carbon dioxide pipelines and other infrastructure essential for carbon capture projects eligible for streamlined permitting.
Barrasso said it is a “practical, common-sense” bill “to turn carbon dioxide emissions into valuable products,” such as use in enhanced oil recovery, building materials and even medical purposes.
The bill, which is backed so far by 12 senators evenly split between the two parties, was approved in the EPW panel unanimously last Congress. “This Congress we want it signed into law,” said Barrasso, likening it to the same type of bipartisanship that led to the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) becoming law this year. Both those bills meet the goal that “America should reduce emissions through innovation, not punishing government regulation,” Barrasso said.
Whitehouse said the bill is a worthy sequel to last year’s extension and fix of the 45Q carbon capture tax incentive that will help private sector efforts – including one by Occidental Petroleum to capture carbon from two ethanol plants and movement by NET Power to set up the first commercial-scale zero-emission natural gas plant. “So things are already moving,” Whitehouse said.
A bipartisan House version, H.R. 1166, is led by Reps. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.).
A report by Clean Air Task Force, which was represented by Managing Director Kurt Waltzer at Wednesday’s hearing, said 45Q will lead to significant deployment of technologies that can capture and store roughly 49 million metric tonnes of CO2 annually in 2030.
Meanwhile, ClearPath applauds the choice of Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) to be top Republican on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
“This is yet another sign Republicans are focused on politically-practical and technology-inclusive climate solutions, such as carbon capture, advanced nuclear, energy storage and targeted federal R&D that have already attracted growing bipartisan backing,” ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell said. “We are confident that Rep. Graves will lead the climate committee with a fact-based perspective to fix this global problem and work alongside House Energy and Commerce ranking member Greg Walden and other thoughtful Republicans on the best solutions moving forward.”
The Department of Energy Thursday announced the launch of the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), which could be a proving ground for fuels that would drive many next-generation nuclear technologies.
The Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act, which was enacted into law last September, directed DOE to determine the need for a VTR operating as a national user facility, as well as a deadline to complete construction and approve the start of operations by December 2025. Idaho National Laboratory will lead the VTR project, DOE announced.
Building a VTR at a national lab that can handle energy neutrons that can go far faster inside a nuclear reactor than traditional reactors, can have huge implications for future reactors that, among other big differences from existing reactors, won’t use water that slows down or moderates the neutrons released inside reactors that are necessary to create power.
At a recent Atomic Wings briefing co-sponsored by ClearPath and DOE, Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) previewed a bill he is working on with House Science Chairman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) that would authorize a dedicated funding source for a VTR.
There was bipartisan praise for ARPA-E at a House Science subcommittee hearing, with Republicans especially noting the need to prioritize and refine efforts to ensure that there is not over-duplication with other DOE and private-sector efforts.
Energy Subcommittee Chairman Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) noted that ARPA-E since its creation in 2007 has created 71 new companies and 136 projects that have garnered more than $2.6 billion in private-sector funding, which is more than the government has spent on the program in that time.
That includes a microreactor effort by Westinghouse in Lamb’s district, which has been “expensive and difficult and they might not be able to pursue it without the help of a program like ARPA-E,” he said.
“ARPA-E is a program that can and has had tremendous impact on the development of new energy techs,” Science Committee ranking member Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) said. But he added that controversy with the program includes some “significant overlap” between ARPA-E and DOE’s applied energy research. A bipartisan ARPA-E reform bill Lucas sponsored was approved by the House last Congress, as was a bipartisan ARPA-E reauthorization bill led by Science Chairman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas).
IEA: U.S. NEEDS TO STEP UP CLEAN ENERGY GAME
International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol stressed that increasing coal and nuclear power in China and elsewhere means the U.S. should step up its carbon capture and advanced nuclear efforts.
“If we do not change our policies … in less than 10 years, China will overtake U.S. as number one nuclear power in the world,” Birol told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Thursday. That includes efforts to both extend the lifetimes of existing plants and to develop and commercialize small modular reactors and other next-generation technologies, he said.
Birol also noted that China’s 11-year-old coal fleet is “very young” and will be increasingly powering the nation for much time to come.
“Investments were made there and the utilities, the countries, will not change their plans before the investments are paid back,” he said. “While they provide much needed electricity for the poorest segments of the population there … how do we address the environmental impacts?”
The “magic word here” is carbon capture, storage and utilization, he said, while adding that climate change necessitates a mix of solutions. “We are not in a position to pick up our favored technology today,” he said. “We need all those technologies – renewables, nuclear, CCUS and efficiency.”
THE PATH AHEAD
THURSDAY ClearPath and the Department of Energy is cosponsoring the next Atomic Wings Lunch & Learn, “Jobs in Nuclear Energy: From Trades to Engineers and Physicists.” RSVP
