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Virtual Member Meeting in the US underscores continued CCS growth
23rd May 2020
On Wednesday, May 19th, the Global CCS Institute hosted a virtual North America Members meeting to stay connected with our membership during this time when in-person gatherings are not possible. The convening provided all of the participants the opportunity to stay up to speed on CCS developments and Institute activities, and to learn from their peers. It was attended by more than 80 people representing 20+ Institute members.
The meeting was kicked off by Steven Winberg, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. Assistant Secretary Winberg remarked on DOE’s historical and current investment in CCUS, and reflected an expansive forward view of the applicability of CCUS, including not only point source capture and geological storage, but also CO2 utilization/conversion, direct air capture, and hydrogen applications.
Allyson Anderson Book, VP of Energy Transition at Baker Hughes, provided an industry view of the future of CCS, emphasizing her company’s decarbonization commitments, and the importance of CCS for her company, their customers, and society.
Updates were provided by project principals on four CCS facilities currently in development, two in the US, and two in Europe.
- Richard Esposito, R&D Program Manager for Southern Company, provided an update on Project ECO2S, and shared the promising results of assessments of potential regional storage hubs, funded through DOE’s CarbonSAFE program.
- Ian Hunter, Commercial Manager for BP, providing a comprehensive overview of the Net Zero Teesside project in the UK, a great example of a hub and cluster model, with the Clean Gas Project as an anchor and industrial facilities as supplementary CO2 sources.
- Vincent Follaca, Senior Business Development Manager for new member Air Liquide, described the PORTHOS project to capture CO2 from multiple sources at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and store it beneath the North Sea.
- Tiffany Wu, Business Development Manager for technology leader MHIA, talked about several projects on coal-fired power plants the company is supporting in the United States, including the San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico and Prairie State Generating Station in Illinois.
Lee Beck, Senior Advocacy and Communication Advisor, provided an update of the extensive global advocacy activities the Institute undertook in the first half of 2020, including a successful transition to online-based advocacy.
Patricia Loria moderated a conversation with Macquarie’s Daniel Wong, Global Head of Macquarie Capital and Chair of its Green Investment Group. Daniel expects continued strong appetite for clean energy investments, and sees CCS as similar to where offshore wind was 5-10 years ago, with huge potential, scalability, impact, and a declining cost curve. Daniel’s Macquarie colleague Ian McIntyre told the group that the tax equity market in the US seems to be holding up relatively well and they are not seeing the same shrinkage in demand as during the 2008 financial crisis.
Overall the event demonstrated that key indicators continue to reflect growth in the CCS space as a critical technology for the clean energy transition.
The Institute is planning on holding similar regional member meetings in Europe and Asia Pacific in the coming weeks.