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Company Kicks Off Biomass to Hydrogen Project in Partnership with SMUD

August 12, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 12, 2023

Mote Inc. on Aug. 10 said it has received $1.2 million in grant funding to establish its second biomass to hydrogen and carbon sequestration plant in partnership with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, a California public power utility.

As Mote’s hydrogen offtake partner for the second facility in Sacramento, SMUD and Mote have been collaborating on the project development.

The grant funding is from the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Conservation and the California Department of Forestry.

Upon completion, the facility would produce approximately 21,000 metric tons per year of carbon-negative hydrogen for use in thermal power generation and transportation.

The plant would also sequester over 450,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The project is supported by forestry stakeholders due to Mote’s capacity to create value from large amounts of wood waste, Mote said.

The project can utilize up to 300,000 metric tons per year of forest residues and wood waste from regional forest management programs. This waste would otherwise be open-air burned, left to decompose, or sent to a landfill.

Similar to its first project near Bakersfield, Calif., this second plant will integrate with carbon capture and geological sequestration methods to produce carbon-negative hydrogen.

Using gasification and a proprietary integration of proven technology, Mote can process woody waste from farms, forestry, and urban sources. The remaining carbon dioxide from the process is captured and permanently placed underground in saline aquifers for ecologically safe storage.

Mote said it has received a formal invitation to submit a Part II application to the Department of Energy Loan Programs Office Title 17 Clean Energy Financing program, which can offer loan guarantees up to 80 percent of eligible project costs for innovative energy projects like Mote’s facilities.

Bakersfield construction is expected to begin in 2025 and target full operational capacity by 2027.

Additionally, Mote is a member of the ARCHES community and their application for the DOE’s Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub grant.

DOE’s invitation to submit a Part II application is not an assurance that DOE will invite the applicant into the due diligence and term sheet negotiation process, that DOE will offer a term sheet to the applicant, or that the terms and conditions of a term sheet will be consistent with the terms proposed by the applicant, Mote said.

“The foregoing matters are wholly dependent on the results of the DOE review and evaluation of a Part II Application and DOE’s determination of whether to proceed,” Mote said.

The American Public Power Association has issued a report that is available for free to members that provides a perspective on where the emerging hydrogen market is in the U.S. and globally, what is driving the growing interest in hydrogen and what obstacles are preventing hydrogen technology from being able to scale-up.

NYPA Launches Process Tied to Renewable Energy Generation Priorities

August 12, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 12, 2023

The New York Power Authority on Aug. 10 said it has begun a process called for in legislation included in the 2023-24 enacted New York State budget that provides NYPA with new authority to develop, own and operate renewable energy generating projects to assist the state in meeting its clean energy targets.

Through the conferral process, the Power Authority will gather input from state agencies and key stakeholders regarding progress on the implementation of New York’s renewable energy goals as outlined in the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

NYPA leadership will confer with sister state agencies charged with implementing the state’s clean energy agenda.

Next, NYPA staff will meet with additional pertinent stakeholders, including climate and resiliency experts, labor organizations, and environmental justice and community organizations.

The conferral process will yield a report by NYPA that includes stakeholder perspectives on the state’s progress on CLCPA renewable energy goals, information about the generation interconnection process of the New York Independent System Operator, and other important issues, NYPA said.

The conferral report will be made public and used by the Power Authority to inform the development of a strategic plan that identifies projects and describes other actions NYPA will undertake to help the state meet its clean energy targets.

“With Governor Hochul’s leadership, we at the New York Power Authority will build upon our unique position and experience in operating the state’s clean energy hydropower plants for the past sixty years to work with stakeholders and help shape the clean energy vision for New York State,” said NYPA President and CEO Justin Driscoll. “The conferral process is the first step in our commitment to learn how we can best fill in gaps and put our distinct resources to work. We are excited to hear from our collaborators as we embark upon identifying new renewable energy generation projects that will help enable New York to lead the country’s decarbonization journey.”

A conferral process task force will shape the outreach and report. The task force, led by Yves Noel, NYPA’s senior vice president and chief strategy officer, and Phil Toia, president, NYPA Development, consists of a cross-functional team that will leverage internal subject matter experts from across NYPA including development, strategy, legal, and technical departments.

In May 2023, the 2023-24 Enacted State Budget provided NYPA with new authority to develop, own, and operate renewable energy generating projects — either alone or in collaboration with other entities — to assist the state in meeting its clean energy targets, including producing 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and creating a zero-emission statewide electrical system by 2040.

Plans for 800-Megawatt Solar Project at Kentucky Coal Mine Unveiled

August 12, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
August 12, 2023

A Kentucky coal mine site would be converted into an 800-megawatt solar project that was recently announced by renewable energy developer BrightNight, Rivian Automotive and the Nature Conservancy.

The project will be located at the Starfire Mine, formerly one of the largest coal mines in the United States.

The project also calls for BrightNight to build up to a 20-mile transmission line that would enable an additional 1 gigawatt of renewable power generation to be built in the region in the future.

The first phase of project development calls for construction to begin in 2025. Rivian has agreed to buy 100 MW of renewable power from the first phase of the project through a power purchase agreement with BrightNight.

The Nature Conservancy has agreed to purchase up to 2.5 MW of renewable energy credits from the project to complement its onsite solar arrays and achieve clean power sustainability commitments.

The Nature Conservancy collaborated with Rivian to establish the competitive process that ultimately selected BrightNight’s Starfire Renewable Energy Center.

Aztec, New Mexico, Pursuing Solar PV Plus Energy Storage Project

August 12, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 12, 2023

The City of Aztec, New Mexico, a public power community, is pursuing the development of a solar PV plus energy storage project to meet its entire daytime power needs. The city is working with the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology on the project.

The City of Aztec is using the opportunities created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to install a 2-megawatt solar PV plus 4-megawatthour battery energy storage system project, an Aug. 1 news release noted.

Aztec selected ICAST to help it design and implement the project and help it access the BIL and IRA funds, monetize the investment tax credits, and access low-cost financing.

Aztec is located in San Juan County, New Mexico, in the 4-corners region that has been heavily impacted due to the closure of a coal mine and a large coal-fired power plant, the news release said.

The project will reduce energy costs for Aztec’s 6,000-plus residents, decarbonize energy usage, “provide high-quality, sustainable jobs for the operation and maintenance of the project after the temporary construction jobs, and, help the City of Aztec achieve some level of energy resiliency,” the news release said.

“With all the new federal funds coming out, we have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in the clean energy transition. We’re looking forward to this project increasing energy reliability and resiliency and reducing energy burdens for our residents,” said Denver DeWees, Director for the City of Aztec, Electric Department, in a statement.

“We have an existing 1-MW solar facility that was installed in 2016, and there has been hopes to expand due to the success of that facility,” DeWees told Public Power Current.

With Energy Tax Credits and the Federal grant money available, “this is an opportune time to pull the trigger on this project. Adding battery storage adds to our resiliency and gives us a dispatchable energy resource,” he said.

DeWees was asked to comment on what advice he would give to smaller public power communities that are considering applying for funds through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

“It is very difficult to navigate and time consuming. I found it necessary due to internal bandwidth to seek out help. ICAST is a great fit for us, and I am looking forward to seeing what they bring to the table,” he said.

The solar PV plus storage project is expected to be operational in just over two years, DeWees said.

DOE Announces Up to $1.2 Billion for Direct Air Capture Demonstrations

August 12, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 12, 2023

The U.S. Department of Energy on Aug. 11 announced up to $1.2 billion to advance the development of two commercial-scale direct air capture facilities in Texas and Louisiana.

The projects — the first of this scale in the United States — represent the initial selections from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program, which aims to kickstart a nationwide network of large-scale carbon removal sites.

Together, the projects are expected to remove more than 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year from the atmosphere, DOE said.

The announcement will be the world’s largest investment in engineered carbon removal in history and each hub will eventually remove more than 250 times more carbon dioxide than the largest direct air capture facility currently operating, according to DOE.

Direct air capture is a process that separates CO2 from the air, helping to reduce legacy CO2 in the atmosphere. The separated CO2 can then be safely and permanently stored deep underground or converted into carbon-containing products like concrete that prevent its release back into the atmosphere,

Selected projects include Project Cypress (Calcasieu Parish, LA). Battelle, in coordination with Climeworks Corporation and Heirloom Carbon Technologies, Inc., aims to capture more than 1 million metric tons of existing CO2 from the atmosphere each year and store it permanently deep underground.

This hub intends to rely on Gulf Coast Sequestration for offtake and geologic storage of captured atmospheric CO2.

The second project is the South Texas direct air capture Hub (Kleberg County, TX). 

1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental, and its partners, Carbon Engineering Ltd. and Worley, seek to develop and demonstrate a direct air capture facility designed to remove up to 1 million metric tons of CO2 annually with an associated saline geologic CO2 storage site.

Learn more about the two Regional direct air capture Hubs projects selected for award negotiations here.

Potential Future DAC Hub Studies

To assess the viability of future direct air capture Hub demonstrations, DOE also announced 19 additional projects selected for award negotiations that will support earlier stages of project development, including feasibility assessments and front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies.

Fourteen projects will enable early-stage efforts to explore the feasibility of a potential direct air capture Hub location, ownership structure, and business model. Five projects will perform FEED studies that establish and define technical requirements focused on project scope, schedule, and costs to reduce risk during later project phases. Learn more about these 19 projects selected for award negotiations here.

DOE intends to issue additional funding opportunity announcement in the coming years to fully implement the Regional DAC Hubs mandate from Congress.

Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.

Carbon Negative Shot Pilots

DOE also announced its intent to publish a series of funding opportunities for projects and prizes focused on supporting the development and commercialization of a suite of carbon dioxide removal technologies.

These efforts will collectively support the Carbon Negative Shot, part of DOE’s larger Energy Earthshots Initiative and the U.S. government’s first major effort to help spur innovation and position U.S. enterprises as leaders in research, manufacturing, and deployment in the carbon dioxide removal industry.

The Earthshot sets a goal to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it at meaningful scales for less than $100 per net metric ton of CO2-equivalent within the decade. Read the full NOI.

The DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, in collaboration with the DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, manages the Regional DAC Hubs Program and will provide project management oversight for the direct air capture Hubs projects selected to demonstrate the capture, processing, delivery, and storage or end-use of captured carbon as well as community benefit plans and environmental safety.

DOE Proposes Rulemaking to Streamline, Set Deadlines for Federal Permitting of Transmission

August 11, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 11, 2023

The U.S. Department of Energy recently proposed a rule to establish a Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits Program to accelerate federal environmental review and permitting processes for qualifying onshore electric transmission facilities.

“Consistent with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the program aims toward a better coordinated, more streamlined process that will set deadlines for Federal authorizations and permits for electric transmission on a two-year timeline while ensuring meaningful engagement with Tribes, local communities, and other stakeholders,” DOE said in a news release.

The DOE Grid Deployment Office, which will administer the CITAP Program, is now seeking public comment and feedback on the proposed program via a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

Legislative Authority Background

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 added Section 216(h) to the Federal Power Act. This provision of law authorizes DOE to serve as the lead agency for coordinating all Federal authorizations and related environmental reviews necessary to site an electric transmission facility.

In May of 2023, nine federal agencies, including DOE, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to implement this authority to expedite the siting, permitting, and construction of electric transmission infrastructure in the United States while ensuring strong environmental protections and robust community engagement.

In the MOU, the DOE committed to update its regulations to implement this authority and to establish a standard schedule that identifies the general timeline needed to complete decisions on all Federal environmental reviews and authorizations.

With the Aug. 10 announcement, DOE is issuing proposed updates to its regulation and publishing a draft standard schedule.  

DOE noted that currently, the process of building transmission projects can take more than a decade.  Although many factors contribute to these timelines, the CITAP program will work to ensure that the federal permitting processes are efficient and robust to enable transmission to be brought online more quickly, it said.

The CITAP program does not replace any state or local government permitting or siting authorities or any requirement of federal law.

Rather, the program seeks to coordinate, and thereby accelerate, federal permitting reviews and decision making.

Through the CITAP Program, DOE will identify at the earliest opportunity the federal and non-federal entities relevant to the permitting of a proposed project.

DOE will then lead an iterative, interagency process to ensure that a developers’ applications for federal authorizations are ready for review on the binding project-specific timelines DOE will establish.

DOE will also work with the relevant agencies to prepare a single environmental review document to support the permit decision making of each relevant federal entity, reducing duplication of work and improving efficiency.

Integrated Interagency Preapplication Process

DOE is proposing that a developer must participate in the Integrated Interagency Preapplication (IIP) process for its projects to participate in the CITAP program.

This process would provide a uniform mechanism for developers to identify siting constraints and opportunities, engage with Tribes, local communities, and other stakeholders, and gather information that will serve as inputs, as appropriate, into federal permitting agencies’ authorization decisions and the single environmental review document that DOE will prepare.  

The proposed rules would require all participating transmission developers to submit a public engagement plan during the IIP process that describes how they will work with Tribes, local communities, and other stakeholders throughout the life of the project.

The IIP process “will significantly improve the efficiency of the permitting process for project developers by collecting all information necessary to demonstrate compliance with various Federal authorities up front,” DOE said.

Standard Schedule

As required by the MOU, DOE also released a draft Standard Schedule that indicates how the Department will consolidate the application review process, including Federal environmental reviews and authorizations for a transmission project, into the two-year timeline.

The standard schedule is a template, and each project will receive a project-specific schedule based on its location and scope, incorporating the need for robust analysis of project impacts and early and meaningful consultation with potentially affected Tribal nations, communities, or other stakeholders. The project-specific schedule will establish mandatory timelines for Federal agencies to complete the necessary permitting processes and related environmental reviews.

Through the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) released by DOE, DOE seeks comments on the CITAP Program implementation, especially the IIP Process requirements for transmission developers.

DOE specifically invites Tribal governments to provide comments on the effects that this regulation could potentially have on Tribal communities.

The comment period will be open for 45 days following the NOPR publication in the Federal Register. Details on how to submit comments are provided in the NOPR.

A public webinar will be held on August 23, 2023.

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Idaho National Laboratory Deploys “Microgrid in a Box” at Hydropower Plant

August 10, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
August 10, 2023

Idaho National Laboratory, in partnership with Fall River Electric Cooperative, has deployed a “Microgrid in a Box” at the cooperative’s hydropower plant in rural Idaho.

Using the Microgrid in a Box technologies developed by the Idaho Lab and sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office, the researchers demonstrated how hydropower with advanced controls and use of a mobile microgrid, can enable small communities to maintain critical services during emergencies.

The Relocatable Resiliency Alternative Power Improvement Distribution Microgrid in a Box, also known as RAPID MIB, is a portable, self-contained grid system developed by Idaho National Laboratory engineers in collaboration with private industry and government customers.

The Microgrid in a Box system is designed to enable the integration and optimization of multiple energy sources — such as hydropower, solar panels, wind turbines, diesel generators or even small nuclear reactors — to ensure a reliable and resilient power supply in remote or off-grid locations, or during emergency situations or power outages.

At the ribbon cutting for the Microgrid in a Box project, Idaho Lab researchers simulated a critical load while showing how the hydropower plant could be used to restore the grid after a simulated electrical grid blackout.

“There are hundreds of hydropower plants like this one serving small communities across the country,” Thomas Mosier, leader of Idaho National Laboratory’s Energy Systems Group, said in a statement. “What we’ve demonstrated are new technologies that can enable these communities to use the hydropower resources they already have to restart and maintain stable power to essential services, even during an emergency event.”

“Restarting a grid isn’t as simple as flipping a switch,” Kurt Myers, leader of Idaho Lab’s Energy and Grid Systems Integration group, said in a statement. “It requires a steady power input that many small utilities alone can’t provide. Combining the tech built into the Microgrid in a Box with the existing capabilities of the Fall River plant, we’re showing how communities with limited resources can recover and continue to function during an emergency.”

Treasury, IRS Issue Guidance for Owners of Solar, Wind Energy Facilities in Low-Income Communities

August 10, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 10, 2023

The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service on Aug, 10 issued final regulations and Revenue Procedure 2023-27 to provide guidance for owners of certain solar or wind facilities built in connection with low-income communities.

The guidance provides definitions, requirements and procedures applicable to the Section 48(e) low-income communities bonus energy investment credit program established under the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRS estimates that applications from individuals, businesses and tax-exempt organizations that own certain energy credit qualifying solar or wind facilities could number in the thousands.

The Inflation Reduction Act provides for an increase in the energy investment credit for solar and wind facilities that apply for and receive an allocation of environmental justice solar and wind capacity limitation. Taxpayers that receive an allocation and properly place the facility in service may then claim the increased energy investment credit in the year that the facility is placed in service.

The final regulations provide definitions and requirements for the program. The regulations state the four project categories under which facilities apply for an allocation, and the increase of either 10% or 20% associated with a project category.

Additionally, the regulations:

In addition, Treasury and the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2023-27, which provides the procedures for potential applicants to apply for an allocation of capacity limitation.

Specifically, this guidance provides the information applicants will need to apply and describes the Department of Energy’s application and review process, and the IRS’s allocation award process. The guidance directs applicants to register and apply through the Department of Energy’s portal.

The Department of Energy on Aug. 10 launched a Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program page, which will be updated in the coming weeks to provide additional information about the application opening date and application materials.

The Treasury Department and IRS released Notice 2023-17 on Feb. 13, 2023, to establish the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program. Notice 2023-17 provided initial guidance for potential applicants seeking allocations of calendar year 2023 environmental justice solar and wind capacity limitation.

The Treasury Department and IRS also issued proposed regulations on May 31.

APPA, Public Power Utilities Participate in EPRI Initiative to Support Widescale National EV Rollout

August 10, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 10, 2023

The American Public Power Association and public power utilities are participating in a new Electric Power Research Institute initiative aimed at preparing the U.S. electric grid in support of the accelerated development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The three-year initiative, EVs2Scale2030™, includes electric companies, fleet operators, auto and truck manufacturers, and charging providers, in coordination with federal agencies and national labs, the Edison Electric Institute, APPA, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the Alliance for Transportation Electrification.

Amazon is the first logistics provider to join the initiative. Founding electric utility members include: 

Additional data collaborators include Daimler Truck North America, PACCAR, Volvo Group North America, and World Resources Institute.

Among key resources, the initiative plans to create:

Additional information about the initiative is available on EPRI’s website.