Welcome to your Friday Rundown for the week ending Nov. 9. Feedback is always welcome at info@clearpathaction.org.
POTENTIAL FOR BIPARTISAN CLEAN ENERGY PROGRESS NEXT CONGRESS
GOP clean energy leaders – including those endorsed by ClearPath Action Fund – will have a golden opportunity to help shape the push for aggressive and pragmatic deals in the next Congress.
ClearPath-endorsed candidates who won reelection were Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and Brian Mast (R-Fla.). Another – Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) – remains close in her Senate bid.
Much more is still needed in the coming weeks and next Congress.
That includes a comprehensive advanced nuclear blueprint recognized in Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski’s Nuclear Energy Leadership Act; an effort by Reed to update the tax code to provide more parity for clean and reliable power; a broad bipartisan effort to expand pipelines and other carbon capture, storage and utilization infrastructure; and a continuation of the heightened investments and direction for DOE clean energy research, development and deployment efforts.
“Voters wisely sent back to Congress several GOP clean energy leaders who will be needed now more than ever to continue championing aggressive and pragmatic expansion of clean and reliable power,” ClearPath Action Fund Founder Jay Faison said. “These and other Republicans were among those leading significant action this Congress to incentivize a clean energy economy. Thankfully, their actions often earned broad support across the ideological aisle and I expect that to continue in the next Congress regardless of which party is in control.”
OXY, NET POWER INK CARBON CAPTURE INVESTMENT DEAL
NET Power and Occidental Petroleum Corporation announced an investment agreement that would help advance a low-cost natural gas power system that can capture all carbon dioxide. Occidental is the industry leader in using captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery, while also permanently sequestering the carbon.
The investment agreement – subject to regulatory approval – would be a big boost to efforts to commercialize NET Power’s Allam Cycle technology, which is being demonstrated at a 50 MW-plant near Houston. If approved, Oxy would join Exelon Generation, McDermott and 8 Rivers Capital as investors in NET Power.
The plant – which is the world’s first and only industrial-scale supercritical CO2-based power plant – successfully fired up in May and testing is expected to be completed by early 2019. NET Power would then start detailed engineering of 300-MW commercial-scale plants with major power, oil and gas and industrial customers around the world.
A CARBON CAPTURE GAME CHANGER
If successful, NET Power will greatly simplify the process and equipment needed to produce not just cleaner power, but emission-free power from coal and natural gas. It would emit no carbon and use no water. ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell and graphics guru Mitch Kersey explained the Allam Cycle and how it could revolutionize clean energy in the U.S. and globally.
Cheniere Energy and Polish Oil and Gas Company signed a 24-year deal Thursday to receive U.S. liquefied natural gas as Poland seeks to reduce dependence of Russia. More than half of Poland’s gas comes from Russia’s Gazprom under a long-term deal that expires in 2022. Energy Secretary Rick Perry attended the signing ceremony as part of his broader four-country trek to Central and Eastern Europe this week, which also includes bilateral dialogue on potential nuclear power and other partnerships.
DOE also announced its approval of short-term LNG exports of 2.1 billion cubic feet per day from the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project to non-free trade agreement countries over a two-year period. DOE issued a similar order authorizing short-term exports from the Corpus Christi project to free trade agreement countries in September.
CANADA INCHES TOWARD U.S. SMALL NUCLEAR TECH
NuScale Power signed a memorandum of understanding with Ontario’s public electricity generator, bringing NuScale closer to introducing its ground-breaking small modular reactor technology to Canadian customers.
NuScale is currently working on a service agreement to submit a vendor application with Canadian regulators. NuScale’s technology is already the world’s first and only SMR to undergo design certification application review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NRC is scheduled to complete NuScale’s Design Certification application in September 2020. NuScale’s first customer, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, is on track to deploy the first U.S. SMR plant in the mid-2020s.
TUESDAY ClearPath, U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, Nuclear Innovation Alliance, Third Way and Atlantic Council host a discussion on the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act. Speakers include Idaho National Lab Director Mark Peters, NuScale Power Chief Strategy Officer Christopher Colbert, Pillsbury Law Senior Associate Anne Leidich and Sarah Ladislaw, director of the energy and national security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. RSVP
THURSDAY Rita Baranwal will testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee regarding her nomination to head the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
NOV. 28 Atomic Wings Lunch & Learn on Public-Private Partnerships in Nuclear Energy, hosted by DOE and X-energy. Speakers include Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Office of Nuclear Energy Deputy Assistant Sec. Shane Johnson, Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols and ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell. RSVP
