Happy Friday!

1. Big night for Republicans!

President Trump’s decisive win, the flip of the U.S. Senate, and likely hold in the U.S. House are important for several key reasons:

• Permitting reform will continue to be a top priority as we need to let American energy producers start building.
• There will be a major focus on bringing more manufacturing production back to the U.S., which is good environmental policy because America’s manufacturing is the cleanest in the world.
• Strategic investments in American clean energy research, development and deployment will need reauthorizing.

What’s clear: “Next year will be pivotal for how the U.S. can produce more energy, make it affordable and keep it all clean. When you look at the whole picture of what Congress and the Administration need to do — fix the broken permitting system, bring more manufacturing back to the U.S., accelerate technological innovation across sectors of the economy and grow new American nuclear here and abroad — the incoming Trump Administration already has a strong track record on those issues,” said CEO Jeremy Harrell.

Plug in:

• Harrell co-authored an op-ed with Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) on how energy prices were on the ballot and what a Republican-led Congress can do. Read the full piece in the Washington Reporter here.
• A Cipher News article highlighted leading climate and clean energy experts, including Harrell, who shared insights on what to expect for clean energy policy in 2025.

2. Let America Build – Relocating the center of the co-location debate

FERC recently rejected an agreement that would have supported the expanded electricity consumption from an Amazon Web Services data center co-located at Talen Energy’s Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. This ruling highlights the need for more permitting and interconnection reforms. Specifically, reforms could:

• Offer faster electricity access in areas with insufficient generation and transmission capacity by addressing long transmission lead times and generation permitting and siting delays;
• Speed up backlogged interconnection queues;
• Provide more regulatory clarity, predictability, and flexibility for innovative business models and technologies seeking co-location arrangements; and
• Make rate design across customers more efficient and accurate.

What’s clear: Co-location is a symptom of a dreadfully slow construction environment that starts with five-year-long interconnection processes and is followed by uncertain transmission upgrade lead times, permitting and siting opposition, and supply chain delays. Permitting modernization efforts in Congress and additional interconnection reforms at FERC can address these challenges.

Plug in: Learn more about the interconnection process here.
 

3. Three projects awarded with Wyoming energy matching funds

The Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) announced that Governor Gordon approved three separate projects to receive Energy Matching Funds (EMF).

The awards will go to:

• Airloom Energy, for their modular, scalable, utility-scale wind energy device;
• Blue Spruce Operating’s Dry Piney Project, which is expanding helium production alongside natural gas and carbon sequestration; and
• Prabhu Energy Labs’ methane mitigation demonstration project.

What’s clear: The EMF is a state-based program to support private-sector projects seeking federal demonstration funding. Types of programs like these can encourage public-private collaboration to keep energy innovation at home, building America’s strength as an energy powerhouse.
 

4. Coming down the pipeline

• Thursday, November 14 – Tuesday, November 19 – ClearPath is sending a delegation to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, including our CEO, Jeremy Harrell. Reach out to Emily Johnson (emily@clearpath.org) if you’d like to connect on the ground!
• Thursday, November 21, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Tune in to Dynamo’s virtual event to hear CEO Jeremy Harrell discuss new opportunities in U.S. clean energy.

5. ICYMI

• ClearPath CEO Jeremy Harrell contributed to the World Economic Forum’s latest report, “A Collaborative Framework for Accelerating Advanced Nuclear and Small Modular Reactor Deployment.“
• 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, entered into an agreement with Enterprise Products Partners to develop a CO2 transportation network for the Bluebonnet Sequestration Hub 1PointFive is developing in southeast Texas.
• Carbon Clean announced a new carbon capture system called Cyclone CC C1. The system aims to reduce the amount of steel required by conventional carbon capture plants by 35%.
• The Pacific Northwest Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub is seeking concept papers for potential additions to the hub.
• The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a request to review a lower court decision on the Resolution Copper mine which will be the largest copper mine in North America capable of producing 25 percent of U.S. demand each year.
• The Fiscal Responsibility Act directed NERC study on Interregional Transfer Capability needs across the country revealed that 35 GW of transfer capability is recommended to strengthen energy adequacy under extreme conditions.
• Citroniq Chemicals announced plans to build the world’s largest biobased plastics facility in Falls City, Nebraska, which will offer a lower emissions alternative to polypropylene, an important building block for plastics production.