Happy Friday!
 

1. Breaking ground requires a permit – a missed SOTU opportunity

 

President Joe Biden missed a critical opportunity during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. In touting the bipartisan infrastructure law, he directed a comment towards Republicans – “I’ll see you at the groundbreaking.”

• The past five years have yielded some of the most significant bipartisan innovation and climate policies in our nation’s history, increasing investments in energy infrastructure.
• But, breaking ground on anything will require a permit.

Plug in: Rich Powell, CEO of ClearPath, published an op-ed in MarketWatch on a three-part balanced plan to modernize permitting that gets clean power onto the grid sooner, while protecting the safety of our communities.

Ahead of the State of the Union Address, Rich also joined John Solomon and Amanda Head on Just The News saying the permit process for new energy projects is impacting America’s ability to create and use clean energy efficiently.

• "If we’re serious about building huge, new clean energy projects in this country we have to modernize this process."  

2. ClearPath adds natural gas expert to policy team

  

Karen Obenshain joins ClearPath as Program Manager for Natural Gas where she will work on special projects to enable more clean natural gas through innovative leak detection and repair techniques from the oil and gas sector along with applications of emissions reduction processes and technologies.

• Prior to ClearPath, Karen was Senior Director of Fuels, Technology & Commercial Policy at Edison Electric Institute (EEI), where she covered various fossil energy and carbon capture policy issues.

“Karen brings a wealth of experience and expertise in regulatory affairs and fossil energy that will be extremely valuable as ClearPath explores innovative technologies to reduce emissions in the natural gas sector," said Spencer Nelson, ClearPath Managing Director of Research and New Initiatives.  

3. $74 Million to advance enhanced geothermal systems

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The funding opportunity announcement to support enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) pilot demonstration projects was released by DOE this week.

• The Energy Act of 2020 authorized DOE to support up to seven competitively selected pilot projects that collectively demonstrate EGS.
• $74 million comes from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Plug in: ClearPath has a proprietary tracker monitoring the progress of the DOE funding for clean energy infrastructure projects.

What’s clear: ClearPath and Geothermal Rising published recommendations for implementing geothermal demonstration programs.  

4. The world needs more nuclear power

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The International Nuclear Energy Financing Act, recently reintroduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), would allow financing for nuclear power at the World Bank and other international financial institutions. Reps. French Hill (R-AR), Michael McCaul (R-TX), and Byron Donalds (R-FL) signed on to co-sponsor.

• Changing the World Bank’s policy to provide funding for nuclear projects would be the quickest and easiest way to advance net-zero efforts in the developing world.
• This would also increase security, safety, and prosperity for the U.S. and globally.

Plug in: Nuclear energy is essential to solving the global climate challenge, especially to support efforts in rapidly developing nations. ClearPath Advisory Board Members DJ Nordquist and Jeff Merrifield, former World Bank and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials, published a column for Foreign Affairs on why the World Bank needs to get in the game.

5. Estonia’s first nuclear plant will be American technology

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Estonia’s Fermi Energia announced its selection of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s (GEH’s) light-water, small modular reactor, BWRX-300, as the winning bidder to construct their nuclear power plant.

• Plans to sign a project development and preliminary works contract are underway.
• BWRX-300 is undergoing pre-application activities with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• GEH is also working to deploy its BWRX-300 in Canada, the Czech Republic, Poland, the U.K., Sweden and the U.S.

6. World’s first project stores CO2 in concrete 

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Heirloom, an industry leading direct air capture (DAC) company, successfully demonstrated that their technology captures atmospheric carbon dioxide, and stores it in new building material. E&E’s Carlos Anchondo has more.

• Heirloom’s facility, in Brisbane, California, captured carbon dioxide and embedded it in concrete used in building projects in the Bay Area.
• The project partnered with CarbonCure Technologies and Central Concrete, a subsidiary of Vulcan Materials Co.

Plug in: DAC is part of the carbon dioxide removal or “CDR” policy that is rapidly joining the climate and clean energy policy discussions.

• Watch this five-minute explainer video on how DAC technology works and why it matters. 

7. ICYMI

• Linde plans to invest $1.8 billion to supply hydrogen to OCI’s blue ammonia plant in Texas.
• Also in Texas…a new report says the state is ideal for geothermal growth that could rival the fracking boom.
• Even more from Texas…Bloomberg reports, “the world’s largest carbon capture plant gets a second chance."
• The CSIS Energy360 podcast covers energy and climate policy in the 118th Congress with Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) this week.

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