Welcome back, and Happy Friday!
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1. America now leads the world in LNG exports
Last year, as Europe made efforts to divert from Russian energy sources, American liquified natural gas (LNG) became an important source of clean, reliable energy.
Thanks to these increased exports, the U.S., tied with Qatar, was the world’s top LNG exporter in 2022, exporting a total of 81.2 million tons of LNG.
- The U.S. began exporting LNG from the lower 48 states in 2016. 2022 marked a huge jump in American LNG exports.
- To maintain global leadership, the U.S. will need to expand its capacity.
Plug in: American LNG exports are already continuing into 2023 – American LNG provider Venture Global recently delivered its first full cargo of LNG to Germany’s new terminal.
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2. Geothermal continues gaining ground
Geothermal energy, produced by harnessing the heat of the earth, is gaining traction thanks to $200 million in funding from Congress and private sector interest.
- While it currently only supplies 3.7 GW of power in the U.S., geothermal has the potential to scale up to more than 100 GW of capacity.
- The administration is encouraging private oil and gas companies to use their drilling and extraction capabilities to incorporate geothermal into their portfolios, and is also looking into the production potential of abandoned oil and gas wells.
Plug in: Ben Lefebvre and Kelsey Tamborrino discuss the growth of geothermal in Politico Pro.
Also, in a recent blog post, our Managing Director for Research Spencer Nelson discusses reliability, investing, and land use benefits, along with geothermal’s biggest obstacle: permitting.
What's clear: Geothermal could be a major energy source in the U.S. if projects could be permitted more easily. It is essential that the federal government modernize the process to get clean energy projects built cleaner and faster.
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3. DOE narrows down hydrogen hubs projects
The bipartisan infrastructure law allotted $8 billion in funding for a “hydrogen hubs” program, intended to accelerate the deployment of hydrogen energy, and the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a funding opportunity announcement for $7 billion of that fund.
DOE followed up on this announcement with a recent step toward selecting projects for the program.
- DOE narrowed down the field of applicants, sending “encouraging” notices to 33 of the 79 total proposals.
- In part, the “encouraged” projects were chosen based on already-proven technologies rather than those not considered ready for demonstration.
The next step for the “encouraged” projects will be to submit applications explaining their plans in greater detail by March 17th.
Plug in: ClearPath is tracking the administration’s progress on the hydrogen hubs and other clean energy projects financed by the bipartisan infrastructure law. Check out our real-time, interactive tracker here.
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4. LA hydrogen project may be closer to development
In other news for hydrogen, the Louisiana Clean Energy Complex may be closer to development.
- A U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction, preventing a 12-month moratorium on sequestering carbon dioxide captured from the project. Air Products is expected to prevail in the case, as the injunction will likely be made permanent.
The Louisiana Clean Energy Complex in Ascension Parish will generate clean hydrogen energy using natural gas and capture its own emissions. The captured carbon will be transported and stored beneath nearby Lake Maurepas in Livingston Parish.
- Air Products is aiming to have the entire complex operational by 2026.
What's clear: Hydrogen has enormous potential to connect energy generation, storage, transportation, and industry.
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5. CA to get another CCS, hydrogen plant
California Resources Corporation (CRC) is announcing a second new project in California that will produce clean hydrogen from natural gas then capture and sequester CO2.
- Project 1: CRC will work with Lone Cypress Energy Services to develop a hydrogen facility in Kern County, California.
- Project 2: CRC will work with Carbon TerraVault Holdings, LLC and clean tech company Grannus, LLC to build a hydrogen and ammonia plant in San Joaquin County.
- Combined: They have the potential to permanently store half a million tons of CO2 annually.
What's clear: California has aggressive decarbonization goals, and hydrogen has huge potential to connect energy generation, storage, transportation, and industry to meet them.
Plug in: Both projects are accompanied by permanent CO2 storage, providing a low-cost, low-carbon option for California’s energy market. Both also require a Class VI well permit to safely sequester the captured CO2 – it is critical that EPA expedite that permitting process.
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6. Interconnection challenges ahead for new FERC acting chairman
- The Commission has a lot of work ahead, particularly on fixing interconnection queue backlogs.
- Last year, FERC proposed reforms to address the problem, but these may not be enough for the speed and scale of deployment required to reach U.S. emissions reduction goals.
What's clear: Opportunities to integrate the interconnection and transmission planning processes that scale with current and projected energy deployments should continue to be evaluated at FERC.
Plug in: Our Research Associate Casey Kelly and Managing Director for Research Spencer Nelson discuss the challenges FERC will need to address in their report, All Queued Up and Nowhere to Go.
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7. ClearPath is hiring for Congressional fellowships!
We are seeking mid-career individuals to work for one year in Congressional offices, with one Fellow working in the House and one in the Senate.
- Fellows will be expected to pursue educational opportunities to broaden their portfolios and capabilities while working on a diverse set of clean energy technologies.
- Responsibilities include producing research insights on policy and industry trends, tracking federal clean energy programs, and prioritizing and executing a policy agenda.
Please send applications and letters of interest to [email protected].
Plug in: Check out the full Fellowship job descriptions and explore ClearPath’s other open positions at our Careers page.
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8. ICYMI
- NuScale has submitted a Standard Design Approval application for its updated small modular reactor design.
- Jamie Dimon explains how America can lead the Western world in response to the global energy crisis in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.
- EPRI and GTI Energy led a study evaluating the ability of alternative technology strategies to achieve U.S. net-zero goals as part of the Low-Carbon Research Initiative.
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That’s all from us. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
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