Welcome back to your Friday Rundown for the week ending Dec. 15. Feedback is always welcome at info@clearpathaction.org.
HOUSE BACKS GOP BILLS EXPEDITING HYDROPOWER
House lawmakers approved two more Republican bills to expedite clean U.S. hydropower.
The Promoting Hydropower Development at Existing Nonpowered Dams Act (H.R. 2872) from Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) would establish a streamlined environmental review process for qualifying non-powered dam projects that often struggle to attract investment because of a lengthy and uncertain regulatory process. The Department of Energy estimates the U.S. non-powered dam power generation potential is equivalent to roughly two dozen large coal power plants.
House lawmakers also approved H.R. 2880, the Promoting Closed-Loop Pumped Storage Hydropower Act, from Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.). This streamlines the federal licensing process stymying the development of pumped storage hydropower facilities that make up the vast majority of U.S. electricity storage technologies.
A broad quartet of senators – Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso and Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, Shelley Moore Capito and Sheldon Whitehouse – asked Senate leaders to include their carbon capture incentive bill in an upcoming tax extenders package. “We share a bipartisan concern that carbon capture, utilization, and storage be incentivized to encourage technological innovation that supports domestic energy production, protects and creates high-paying American jobs, and reduces carbon emissions in the U.S. and globally,” their Dec. 14 letter states. Their bill (S. 1535) would extend and expand the Section 45Q tax incentive for projects that capture and store carbon from power plants and other facilities and has already earned support from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate leaders. A similar House bill from Rep. Mike Conaway (H.R. 3761) also has bipartisan backing. READ THEIR LETTER
CHINA’S CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE RUNS INTO A SNAG
China’s clean energy future has run into a problem in the face of $1.2 trillion in debt, mostly tied to the nation’s coal plants that have the capacity to produce roughly three times the coal power capacity of the U.S. And keeping all those coal-fired power plants current on their loans is a key constraint on China’s ability to quickly switch to cleaner power.
China’s $1.2 trillion in debt (most of it to coal plants) means they have to keep existing plants running. Affordable carbon capture is essential. Let’s increase the research dollars for better carbon capture chemistry at places like Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
U.S.-SAUDI CLEAN ENERGY TALKS WARMING?
The Trump administration is encouraging Saudi Arabia to consider bids by Westinghouse Electric and other U.S. companies to build nuclear reactors in that country and may allow the enrichment of uranium as part of that deal, three people familiar with the plans told Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Saudi Energy Minister H.E. Khalid Al Falih signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance clean energy cooperation. The MOU covers carbon capture, utilization and storage and other areas related to clean fossil fuels and carbon management. DETAILS
GATES GIVES BOOST TO ENERGY STORAGE
The Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures is devoting its $1 billion clean energy investment fund in five main areas, including grid-scale storage, mini-grids and geothermal. DETAILS
ICYMI ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell in his latest whiteboard video examined various ideas to develop grid-scale storage that can store massive amounts of both constant-running nuclear and intermittent renewable power. Each of these types of storage – from the typical ion battery to “rock trains” and “fire bricks” – will need reliable federal investment to get to the finish line. But the potential return could radically transform the U.S. and global energy grid.
