Welcome to your weekly Rundown, for the week ending December 13.
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House Republicans Showcase Clean Energy Innovation
This week, House Energy & Commerce Republicans hosted the first-ever “Energy & Environment Innovation Showcase” – an exhibition designed to celebrate a host of American innovators and outline a clear legislative agenda to support realistic climate solutions. The event featured an array of technologically diverse groups, including a small modular reactor company, a carbon capture project and a renewable natural gas producer, to name a few.
The event captured the spirit of putting markets over mandates and innovation over regulations to address climate change. Each of the technologies showcased holds real promise in achieving deep decarbonization, producing affordable energy, supporting continued U.S. job growth. Many are exportable technologies that can help lead the world to solve global problems.
Read more here and see some of the news coverage below.
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 Oklo Receives Permit to build Aurora at Idaho National Laboratory
First Site Use Permit From DOE granted for a non-light water power reactor
It’s been a positive month for Oklo Inc.. Earlier this month, they announced the launch of the Aurora -, an advanced fission clean power plant design developed to power communities with affordable, reliable, and clean power. This week they received a site use permit from the U.S. Department of Energy to build their small nuclear reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Read more about Oklo’s breakthrough design here
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NuScale Completes Major Phase For Advanced Nuclear Reactor Design
This week, NuScale announced the completion of Phase 4 of their design certification application review for their breakthrough small modular reactor(SMR). NuScale is blazing a path to commercialization and the entire review of NuScale’s SMR design is on schedule.
Read the announcement from NuScale.
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The Next Frontier for Clean Natural Gas Technologies
This week the National Petroleum Council (NPC) released A Roadmap to At-Scale Deployment of Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage.
Following the release, ClearPath’s fossil energy program director, Justin Ong, published a new piece highlighting key takeaways from the NPC report. The piece, The Next Frontier for Clean Natural Gas Technologies, summarizes three main highlights from the report.
- Natural gas power plants with carbon capture can be key components of a clean power grid
- Natural gas with carbon capture is available today
- Innovation can deliver vast economic benefits
The U.S. oil and gas industry has been instrumental in the recent landmark reductions of greenhouse gas emissions seen across America. Enabled by ultra-productive natural gas harvesting methods, clean burning natural gas replaced coal as the leading source of U.S. electricity — driving a 28% drop in grid emissions since 2005. The technologies highlighted in the NPC report are essential to future emission reductions.
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Nuclear Regulatory Commission Milestone License Renewal for Turkey Point Nuclear
Last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Florida Power & Light’s application for an additional 20 years of operation for Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Units 3 and 4, located approximately 20 miles south of Miami. This is the first time the NRC has issued renewed licenses authorizing reactor operation from 60 to 80 years. Read more
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 Geothermal Research and Development Legislation Introduced in the House
This week, Ranking Member Frank Lucas and Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson introduced H.R. 5374 that supports advanced geothermal research and development at the Department of Energy to unlock the next generation of geothermal energy development. The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) recently published GeoVision report indicated there is enough geothermal resource potential in the United States alone to meet half of the nation’s electricity needs. Some advanced techniques are capable of tapping into additional resources in cooler rock or regions without water, allowing project proponents to tap into resources across the country originally thought to be either technically impossible or
commercially cost-prohibitive. Read more about the DOE announcement here
RICH'S TAKE
“Geothermal energy is a flexible, dispatchable clean energy resource with immense untapped potential. This legislation reorients geothermal research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities around key challenges that would significantly enhance commercial applications. Appropriately, the legislation focuses on enhanced geothermal systems initiatives, including the Department’s Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) capabilities. This cutting-edge research, drilling, and testing initiatives could accelerate technological breakthroughs that significant expand affordable domestic geothermal energy production.”
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In the Hearing Room This Week
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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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THE PATH AHEAD
December 18, 2019: The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) published will hold a briefing from 10 - 11:30 AM in 121 Cannon HOB. The briefing entitled, “ Less Certain Than Death: Using Tax Incentives to Drive Clean Energy Innovation” will feature David Hart of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Elizabeth Noll of EMN Strategies and Jeremy Harrell of ClearPath. Learn more and register
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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| CLEAN ENERGY. THE CONSERVATIVE WAY. |
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