 Congrats Dan Brouillette!
On Monday, December 2,2019 the U.S. Senate voted 70-15 to confirm Dan Brouillette to be the 15th U.S. Secretary of Energy.
RICH'S TAKE
“We know DOE has championed big goals in the past, which have helped accomplish viable technologies and instrumental tools in the energy industry today. These “moonshot” goals have changed the United States on a global stage. The next generation of American clean energy is going to rest largely on the shoulders of the private sector, as it should. But the Department of Energy will continue to play an essential enabling role for our clean energy sector today and tomorrow. Dan Brouillette’s background in public service and the private sector positions him to lead on this agenda as well as anyone and we’re excited for him to take the reigns.”
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Energy Innovation Showcase on Capitol Hill Next Week
House Energy & Commerce Republicans will be highlighting the importance of investing in the development and deployment of breakthrough technologies to reduce emissions as well as energy and environment policy. Committee Members have invited energy companies, universities, and other organizations from across the nation to showcase their innovative solutions on Capitol Hill on Monday afternoon. Read more here
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 Oklo Announced Aurora Powerhouse, Advanced Fission Clean Energy Power Plant
Oklo Inc. announced the launch of the Aurora - an advanced fission clean power plant developed to power communities with affordable, reliable, and clean power. The Aurora powerhouse contains the Aurora advanced fission power plant, also called a fission battery, which can produce 1.5 MW of electric power. Using metal fuel to produce heat, heat pipes carry the heat to a heat exchanger, and a power conversion cycle converts the heat into electricity.
Read more about this breakthrough design here
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U.S. and Canadian Regulators Select Small Modular Reactor Designs for Collaboration
Earlier this year, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) agreed to increase the efficiency of the technical reviews of advanced next generation reactor technologies. This week, NuScale and Terrestrial Energy were announced as pilots for joint review.
Read more on NuScale’s small modular reactor
Read more on Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®)
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More Good News Up North for Small Modular Reactors
The Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) announced four recipients that will receive support to accelerate the deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) in Canada. The recipients are Kairos Power, Moltex Canada, Terrestrial Energy Inc, and UltraSafe Nuclear Corporation (USNC). Read more here
Unrelated to the CNL announcement; Ontario, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) committing to collaborate on the development and deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in their provinces. Read more here
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DTE Joins Carbon Capture Coalition
This week DTE Energy joined the Carbon Capture Coalition. The move by the Detroit based diversified energy company follows its September 2019 announced goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in its electric company by 2050. Echoing the statements of other large utilities including Duke and Xcel that have committed to significant carbon reductions, DTE has acknowledged that achieving carbon neutrality will require breakthroughs in technology such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage, and small modular nuclear. Read more
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 3 Geothermal Drilling R&D Projects Get $7 Million Award from DOE
This week, The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced three projects to receive up to $7 million for geothermal drilling operations research and develop.
- Wisconsin-Madison: WHOLESCALE — Water & Hole Observations Leverage Effective Stress Calculations and Lessen Expenses (Madison, WI)
- RESPEC: Development of a Directional Cooling Induced Fracturing (DCIF) Technology for Near-Wellbore Stress Estimation in Geothermal Reservoirs (Rapid City, SD)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Improved Lost Circulation Management for Geothermal Drilling (Berkeley, CA)
Read more about the DOE announcement here
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In the Hearing Room This Week
On December 5, Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change of the Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing entitled, "Building a 100 Percent Clean Economy: Solutions for Economy-Wide Deep Decarbonization." Read more
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Utility Dive: Too much wind and solar raises power system costs. Deep decarbonization requires nuclear
John Reilly of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote a column that highlights a new study on trends in solar in wind. The study says that if you add more solar panels and wind farms, their productivity will actually decline. Read the column here
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Sen. Crapo Highlights Nuclear Energy Leadership Act in New Podcast
Sen. Mike Crapo joined the Titans of Nuclear podcast to discuss the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act and how nuclear power is a key part of our national energy, national security, and economic policy.” Listen here
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Washington Post: The fusion energy dream is inching toward planet-saving reality
Dennis Whyte, an engineering professor and the director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote this piece on how the race for fusion energy is now fully on. This column published several weeks ago, but still worth the read.
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Forbes: Washington To Wall Street Hears Harmony On CCS To Address Climate Change
A column by Dipka Bhambhani, communications director for the U.S. Energy Association, highlights the growing support for carbon capture and sequestration particularly as large utilities continue making commitments to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Read the column here
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VIDEO: Energy Sector Innovation Credit Could Help Start Innovation Engine
At a recent House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) discussed the Energy Sector Innovation Credit legislation he has previously introduced and may introduce again this year. His bill – especially when added to a recent suite of other GOP-led proposals to right-size the U.S. innovation engine and regulatory code – could be a major missing financing piece of the clean energy innovation puzzle. Watch the video
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Carbon Capture and Storage for Cement Manufacturing
Lehigh Cement (Lehigh) and the International CCS Knowledge Centre (Knowledge Centre) announced a feasibility study of a commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) targeting the feasibility to capture the majority of the carbon dioxide from a cement plant, significantly reducing its process and combustion GHG emissions. Read more here
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THE PATH AHEAD
December 9, 2019: The House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans will host an “Energy & Environment Innovation Showcase” to highlight the importance of investing in the development and deployment of breakthrough technologies to reduce emissions, power the economy of tomorrow, and provide greater value to American consumers. Read more here
December 9, 2019: The Global CCS Institute will be releasing the Global Status of CCS Report 2019: Targeting Climate Change. Sign up for their newsletter to receive the report here
December 10-12, 2019: gridCONNEXT will be at the Liaison on Capitol HIll to convene exports on modernizing a 21st century grid. Register here
January 10, 2020: U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal announced that Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), the managing and operating contractor for the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is seeking an Expression of Interest (EOI) for partnerships on the deployment of the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR). Click here for details on the Versatile Test Reactor Program Seeking Expressions of Interest
2019 - 2020 School Year: The Energy Impact Center in partnership with the University of Michigan has created the first ever Nuclear Energy Grand Challenge: Reimagining Nuclear Waste which will engage collegiate innovators and entrepreneurs to tackle one of the most unique challenges facing the nuclear energy industry – the perception of nuclear waste. The winning team will be awarded a cash prize. Learn more about the Nuclear Energy Grand Challenge here.
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