Happy Friday! We will be back in your inbox again on Friday, August 30th.  

1. What’s on the Whiteboard: CO2 pipeline safety

Carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines have been safely operating in the United States for the last half-century. There are more than 5,300 miles of these pipelines across the U.S. today.

CO2 pipelines are:

• Primarily underground, out of sight, made of high-grade steel with anti-corrosive coatings;
• Used to transport CO2 safely, quickly and efficiently; and
• Move CO2 in a liquid or pressurized “supercritical” form, which has properties of liquid and gas.

What’s clear: The U.S. has invested billions in carbon management innovation and the 45Q tax incentives that will help deploy the technology to capture or remove carbon dioxide. But, we must be able to get the infrastructure built to capitalize on these investments.

Plug in: To learn more about CO2 pipelines, how they are a beneficial part of our everyday lives, and why we need a lot more of them, check out our newest Whiteboard Video with Senior Program Director for Carbon Management and Science, Hillary O’Brien.  

2. NEW blog! The Grid Storage Launchpad is here

This week, the Department of Energy (DOE) dedicated the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

• The $75 million GSL is now the foremost storage R&D facility in the country for next-generation storage technologies.
• This facility is a testament to America’s world-class energy innovation apparatus.

What’s clear: The overarching goals of the GSL are supported by the bipartisan Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act authored by Sens. Collins (R-ME), Heinrich (D-NM) and Smith (D-MN). The bill was ultimately included in the Energy Act of 2020 and signed into law by former President Trump.

Plug in: Click here to read the full blog by Senior Program Manager of Clean Energy and Permitting, Matt Mailloux.
 

3. Largest U.S. DAC plant opens in Oklahoma

Denver-based company, Heimdal launched the largest U.S. facility for Direct Air Capture (DAC) - a novel technology that can pull CO2 directly from our atmosphere. Located in northern Oklahoma, the Bantam project:

• Will be the most affordable U.S. DAC facility, at $200 per metric ton of CO2 rather than the current industry range of $600 to $1,200 per metric ton.
• Plans to extract at least 5,000 metric tons of CO2 out of the air each year.
• Is named after a small but mighty chicken.

How it works: With Bantam, Heimdal plans to initially store the captured CO2 using enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a process that helps to produce a cleaner barrel of oil, through a partnership with Texas-based CapturePoint, a carbon management company. CO2 injection will occur at the same site.

What’s clear: As carbon management technologies like DAC gear up for wide-scale deployment, the EPA’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) program’s Class VI permitting process will play an increasingly important role in unlocking U.S. carbon storage capacity. As EPA’s Class VI backlog sits at over 140, Oklahoma is currently in the pre-application phase with EPA to receive UIC Class VI Primacy authority to permit these wells through their own state regulatory process.

Plug in: Learn more about how the U.S. can unlock more carbon storage here.
 

4. First-of-a-kind geothermal project to start in Texas

Sage Geosystems, a startup geothermal innovation company based in Houston, announced an agreement with the San Miguel Electric Cooperative to develop a first-of-its-kind geothermal energy storage project in Christine, TX. This 3MW Earthstone project will:

• Be ready before the end of 2024; and
• Will provide power for up to 10 hours a day or 30MWhs per day of new storage capacity on the grid.

What’s clear: This project announcement is just the latest example of how geothermal innovation investments could help meet electricity demand and improve grid reliability.

Plug in: Read about the next steps for Congress to unlock more innovative geothermal projects.
 

5. NEW Blog: CEIA brings Congressional staff to Washington State

ClearPath and U.S. Senate staff in the Pacific Northwest

Last week, ClearPath brought a delegation of eight Congressional staff to Washington as part of its Clean Energy Innovation Academy (CEIA).
The delegation visited:

• Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant,
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL),
• Ebb Carbon and PNNL Marine Sciences Laboratory - Sequim Bay, and
• Helion, a fusion energy company.
• They also met with representatives from Framatome, Stripe, Omya, TerraPower, Twelve and Avalanche Energy.

What’s clear: It’s critical for American energy independence and meeting growing electricity demand that the U.S. leads in the development and deployment of these innovative technologies.

 Delegation at Grid Storage Launchpad

Plug in: Read more about the highlights of the trip in our new blog here, written by Senior Government Affairs Advisor, Amanda Sollazzo and Events Manager, Dillyn Carpenter.
 

6. Role for carbon dioxide utilization in U.S. economy report

A new Congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine covers how captured carbon dioxide can be utilized to produce essential carbon-based products for the U.S. economy.

The new report examines:

• Market opportunities for CO2 utilization, techno-economic and life-cycle assessments of current technologies;
• Research and development needs;
• Potential policy and regulatory frameworks; and
• Enabling infrastructure.

Plug in: Read the full report here.
 

7. ICYMI

• DOE’s American-made commercial DAC Pilot Prize offers up to $52.5 million to developers who build and operate innovative facilities that remove at least 500 metric tons of CO2 per year.