ClearPath Action Rundown
October 18th, 2024
Happy Friday!
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1. Huge nuclear news from Google + Kairos…
Google is bringing Kairos Power's advanced molten salt reactor technology to market, adding more affordable, reliable, clean energy to the U.S. power grid.
In this agreement:
- Google will purchase up to 500 MW of nuclear energy from multiple reactors; and
- Kairos’ timeline will be accelerated for its first commercial project to be deployed by the late 2020s/2030.
What’s clear: Kairos broke ground in July on its Hermes test reactor in Oak Ridge, TN, and built its engineering manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, NM. This progress gives customers, like Google, confidence in their ability to deliver on the promises of new nuclear.
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2. …and X-energy + Amazon
Amazon is investing in reactor developer X-energy and partnering with utility companies to build up to 5 GW of projects by 2039. X-energy is building its first nuclear plant in Seadrift, TX with Dow to provide clean industrial heat.
The highlights:
- Amazon led a Series C financing raise of $500M to support the completion of X-energy’s reactor design and licensing as well as X-energy’s TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, TN.
- The partnership will provide up-front financial support for the construction of X-energy’s second nuclear plant, a four-unit 320 MW plant with the utility Energy Northwest in Washington state; and
- This deal will be the foundation of the order book of reactors needed to drive down project costs.
What’s clear: Amazon is taking a broad approach in supporting new nuclear technologies by not only making direct investments in X-energy but also by signing an MOU with Dominion to explore building a new reactor at Dominion’s existing North Anna nuclear plant in Virginia.
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3. U.S. Navy and Marines looking into clean energy
It’s not just the private industry that is interested in new nuclear. The Department of the Navy, which includes the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, issued a request for information on the potential deployment of clean energy generation on underutilized military lands, including:
- Virginia: Naval Air Station Oceana; Naval Support Activity South Potomac (includes Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, Va., and Naval Support Facility Indian Head, Md.); Naval Weapons Station Yorktown; Marine Corps Base Quantico;
- Maryland: Naval Air Station Patuxent River; and
- North Carolina: Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point; Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
Plug in: The U.S. Air Force is seeking to deploy a microreactor at a base in Alaska, and the DoD’s Project Pele recently broke ground on its test site at Idaho National Lab.
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4. ExxonMobil creating largest offshore CO2 storage site
ExxonMobil signed a deal with the Texas General Land Office to create America’s largest offshore CO2 storage site in Texas state waters for subsurface storage.
This deal will:
- Store captured CO2 from Exxon’s planned projects along the Gulf Coast;
- Lease a total of 271,000 acres; and
- Give Exxon a planned storage capacity of 14 million tons of CO2 annually.
What’s clear: Carbon storage is a crucial decarbonization technology that can help difficult-to-decarbonize industries capture and store CO2 emissions safely and permanently. By establishing America’s largest offshore CO2 storage site, ExxonMobil is setting a critical precedent for scalable carbon storage infrastructure in the U.S.
Plug in: Read more about how the U.S. will need to build out supporting infrastructure for carbon management, including carbon dioxide pipelines here.
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5. NEW OP-ED: Turning the U.S. hydrogen field of dreams into reality
In a new op-ed published in Utility Dive, ClearPath CEO Jeremy Harrell explains how:
- A hydrogen-powered future is within reach this decade; and
- The industry, policymakers and all those interested in a clean future must be prepared to deliver on policy solutions to meet it.
What’s clear: “Hydrogen produces no carbon when it’s burned or used as a feedstock and has applications for the industrial sector, including steel, cement and chemicals. The U.S. is sitting on the potential to produce more; we just need policies that work.”
Plug in: Read the full op-ed piece in Utility Dive here.
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6. Fervo's Cape Station project in Utah gets permit green light
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced two major updates this week for geothermal development on federal lands:
- It approved permits for Fervo Energy’s Cape Station project located in Utah, which will provide up to 2GW of reliable clean power to the grid; and
- Announced a new categorical exclusion (CatEx) for geothermal exploration on federal lands to streamline projects.
What’s clear: These actions are aligned with bipartisan support from Congress to expedite geothermal permitting, including recent House-passed proposals from Reps. Michelle Steel (R-CA), Susie Lee (D-NV), and Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) and Senate proposals from Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and James Risch (R-ID).
Plug in: Read more about how streamlining permitting is a key policy opportunity to unlock more investment in innovative geothermal technologies from our CEO Jeremy Harrell.
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7. Reports: Natural gas needed to power data centers
According to a new study, U.S. utilities must boost annual generation by 7-26% by 2028 compared to last year, with the majority of the increase due to AI and data center growth. Today, natural gas is well-positioned to meet the demand.
- Data centers require 24/7 electricity; and
- Currently account for 1-1.5% of global energy use.
- Three separate reports from Raymond James, Morgan Stanley and Marathon Capital forecast an increase in demand for natural gas power plants to meet anticipated U.S. electric load growth.
What’s clear: We need an all of the above approach to reliable 24/7 baseload power. If lower emissions gas will be needed to meet new large loads in the near term, there will be increased demand for natural gas pipelines.
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8. Nevada to host world’s first lithium-sulfur battery gigafactory
Lyten, a California-based startup, plans to invest in a project that will be able to produce up to 10 gigawatt-hours of lithium-sulfur batteries in Nevada every year.
- The project will be the world’s first lithium-sulfur battery gigafactory; and
- Will produce batteries large enough to power the equivalent of 7,500,000 homes.
- Nevada has secured $4 billion in federal clean energy investment in two years—over half their estimated potential over 10 years.
What’s clear: Lithium-sulfur is an innovative take on battery technology, delivering a high energy density, lightweight battery built with abundantly available local materials and 100% U.S. manufacturing.
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9. NEW BLOG: New technologies for clean U.S. chemical production
In the U.S., chemical production plays a critical role in creating vital inputs for a wide range of key commodities. But, chemical manufacturing is among the largest contributors to industrial CO2 emissions in the U.S., and is likely to grow through 2050.
Promising technologies that offer clean solutions for the chemical sector include:
- Combined heat and power for chemical production from nuclear power plants;
- Electrification of high-temperature heat processes;
- Innovative feedstocks, like recycled plastic; and
- Fuel switching.
What’s clear: As the demand for chemicals grows, so do the emission reduction opportunities. By embracing innovative technologies, America can lead the global shift towards lower emissions of chemical production.
Plug in: Learn more about the new technologies that offer clean solutions for the chemicals sectors in this blog by ClearPath’s Emma Quigg.
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10. ICYMI
- At Senator Bill Cassidy’s Louisiana Energy Security Summit, ClearPath’s Colleen Moss moderated a session on strengthening domestic critical minerals reprocessing, which currently comes from China. Panelists underscored the importance of permitting reforms like Senator Cassidy’s judicial reform proposal.
- A green hydrogen project tied to a novel steelmaking initiative in Mississippi faces delays as headwinds test the emerging market for clean hydrogen.
- Experts suggest the U.S. DOE must do more to boost innovation and scale up carbon removal.
- States, cities, major concrete producers and leading technology companies pledge to reduce cement and concrete emissions.
- Cascade, a U.S.-based NGO working to advance enhanced rock weathering (ERW) solutions, issued its framework for quantifying carbon removal in ERW deployments.
- The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) issued an RFI for project proposals to join the hub with up to $110 million in federal assistance for three projects.
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That's all from us. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
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