Welcome to your weekly Rundown, for the week ending January 17.
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As always, thanks for reading.
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 ClearPath Expands Government Affairs Team with
Duke Energy and White House Experience
ClearPath announced two new additions to their government affairs team. Colleen Moss joins ClearPath from Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States, and Liz Seidel joins from CTIA — The Wireless Association, and previously worked in the White House. Read more
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Microsoft Investing $1Billion In Carbon Capture,
Plans to be Carbon Negative by 2030
Microsoft announced plans to be 100% “carbon-negative” by 2030 and to achieve this will be making a massive $1Billion investment in carbon capture technology innovation.
Microsoft will put out an estimated 16 million metric tons of carbon this year. As the industry grows emissions it’s capacity with power intensive server facilities, that number could increase significantly. Read more about the announcement here
Carbon capture is supported by a diverse coalition – from environmental organizations to industry heavyweights – and as more corporations invest in the exciting technology, carbon capture will inevitably become more affordable and scalable. Read more about carbon capture here
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 ClearPath, DOE host Movers & Milestones in Nuclear Energy:
2017 – 2019
ClearPath joined the U.S. Department of Energy’s office of Nuclear Energy hosting the latest event in their Capitol Hill educational series. The event, Movers & Milestones in Nuclear Energy, featured leaders from innovative companies including NuScale, Oklo, Westinghouse, Kairos Power, and X-energy as well as Assistant Secretary for Nuclear, Rita Baranwal. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) kicked off the event.
Some of these companies are working through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) process and several will likely to have working plants operating in the next four years. Read more here
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 Nuclear Energy Praised in House and Senate
as Solution for Climate Change
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing entitled Nuclear Power is Clean, Reliable & Carbon Free. Chairman John Barasso (R-WY) said:
“Preserving and expanding our use of nuclear energy is necessary to address climate change. Nuclear power is a reliable, clean source of energy. Nuclear power plants generate electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Nuclear energy is also resilient. It produces power through cold snaps, heat waves, and snowstorms. And it does so without emitting carbon dioxide. Preserving and expanding our use of nuclear energy is necessary to address climate change.”
The House Science, Space & Technology held a hearing, An Update On The Climate Crisis: From Science To Solutions. Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) said:
“The most effective thing we can do on this committee to address climate change is to support more basic research that will lead to the next generation of technologies that are needed to reduce global emissions like carbon capture, nuclear power, and fusion energy...
"Today the market exists for implementing groundbreaking technologies. Government investment in basic research has led to the development of carbon capture, carbon use, advanced nuclear, and renewable energy technologies that will incentivize growth in these industries and reduce global emissions in the process."
"Innovation is good for the global environment and the American economy."
Read more in the E&E story “Republicans focus on nuclear as solution to climate change”
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 House GOP Leaders Piecing Together Climate Plan
This week, House Republicans met to start planning a caucus agenda to tackle climate change. Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member Walden has previously highlighted a 12 by 20 plan for climate change and clean energy innovation that you can find here.
Bloomberg had a preview of the meeting here, and E&E wrote this follow up piece, but stay tuned as there will certainly be more to come.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Bipartisan Tech-Neutral Energy Innovation Tax Credit
The new bipartisan bill called the Energy Sector Innovation Credit (ESIC) led by Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA.) Reps. Darrin LaHood (IL-18), Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) David Schweikert (R-AZ) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) will incentivize new clean energy sources to enter the market. When added with the recent suite of bipartisan proposals to advance clean energy, ESIC could be a major missing financing piece of the clean energy innovation puzzle.
There is a growing list of groups who support ESIC including Bipartisan Policy Center, Southern Company, American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, United States Energy Association, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, Clean Air Task Force, Energy Storage Association, Nuclear Energy Institute, The United States Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC), National Electrical Contractors Association, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
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 VIDEO: Republicans Lead with Solutions to Lowering Emission
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. Read more
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 Happy Birthday Petra Nova
Last week marked the third birthday of Petra Nova, the first large scale carbon capture plant at a U.S. power plant. In case you missed the first two years, Mitsubishi — not just a maker of fast cars — in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), worked to deploy one of the largest carbon capture projects in the world at the W.A. Parish coal-fired power plant outside Houston, Texas. To date, only two carbon capture projects in the world have been installed at a power plant. One of the two – NRG’s Petra Nova project- can capture up to 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide each day from the Texas coal plant.
In the three years Petra Nova has captured over 3 million tons of carbon dioxide and shows that with smart public private partnerships, the U.S. is able to innovate and deploy commercial scale projects to make clean energy more affordable. In Texas, carbon-free resources make up more than 30 percent of its energy generation. Even in the state of Texas, home to the largest U.S. wind power plants, Petra Nova is in the top ten percentile of largest clean energy sources. Read more
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Green Tech Media:
What Would It Take for the US to Become an Energy Storage Manufacturing Powerhouse?
Storage will continue to be a critical important piece of reducing carbon emissions. GTM published a piece this week tackling how the industry may be able to break through. In the FY20 spending bill Congress increased funding for basic research, technology transfer and workforce training has been on the storage industry’s wishlist for years. An explicit focus on the industrial planning needed to onshore the storage supply chain, however, adds a new flavor to the mix. Read more
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NREL:
Declining Renewable Costs Drive Focus on Energy Storage
A blog post by the National Renewable Energy Lab highlights some intermitancy challenges with renewable energy and how declining costs are driving innovators to find solutions on storing the energy until it’s needed. Read more
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THE PATH AHEAD
January 28, 2020: The CCUS Roadshow, D.C. workshop will feature leading experts on CCUS. This is the first event of seven sessions across the country. The event will take place from 8 am - 4:15 pm at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Learn more and register here
January 29, 2020: The Global America Business Institute (GABI) will host a briefing on Capitol Hill on Imperatives and Pathways for Advanced Nuclear Test Capabilities, The Case of the Versatile Test Reactor. The briefing is scheduled from 11:30 am - 1 pm in Rayburn 2325, the Science, Space and Technology Committee Room. Register here
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| CLEAN ENERGY. THE CONSERVATIVE WAY. |
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