Happy Nice Mall

part of this article beginningA series about startups benefiting from new science and technology.

LA PORTE, TEXAS – It wasn’t like in the movies. No one pulled down a big switch on the wall, there was a satisfying “rumble” and an electric crackle. Instead, one evening last November, a shift supervisor NET Power, a clean energy technology company clicked the mouse several times in a control room inside a double-width trailer. At the last click, the company’s generator synchronized with the Texas grid, a big step towards powering homes and businesses. Twenty-seven minutes later the supervisor disconnected.

It may not sound like much, but the preview at this demonstration plant, which is a tiny fraction of the capacity of a full-scale plant, showed that there is a new method of generating electricity that burns natural gas but does not generate the same greenhouse gas. Emissions as fossil fuels can play well with the nation’s electricity grid.

Cam Hosie, head of 8 Rivers, NET Power’s oldest shareholder, said he watched the test from his laptop that evening. “I cried,” he recalled, when the plant was in sync.

It was a milestone for NET Power, which has been working for the technology for 12 years. The difficult feat of matching the frequency and other characteristics of the grid, this synchronization generated a tremendous influx of attention as companies looking for a cleaner way to generate power began licensing NET Power’s technology. Potential customers have announced their plans for new facilities around the world, including in the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.

“This, if it becomes commercially deployable, could play an important role in our ability to meet net zero targets in the U.S. and globally, among others,” said Carrie Jenks, Director of Environment and Urbanization at Harvard Law School. energy law program

Most power plants boil water by burning coal or natural gas or by nuclear fission; The resulting steam then turns a turbine. Burning these fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases, which are the main culprits of climate change. Scientists warn that if we do not stop these emissions, more and more catastrophic disasters will lie ahead.

Renewable energy (such as solar, wind and geothermal energy) has grown tremendously as its price has dropped. But many experts suggest that to fill the gaps in sunlight and wind supply, the grid will need electricity sources — what the commerce calls “distributed” power — that can be started quickly. And some researchers suggested Professor Jenks, who said that the electricity grid can be built entirely on renewable energy and storage, said, “I think fossils will continue to be in our energy system in the near future.” And so “you need a set of solutions so that we can continue on the path we need to go now. “We don’t know yet what silver lead is – and I doubt we’ll be able to find a silver lead,” he said.

This is where NET Power fans say the company can make a difference: its technology burns natural gas without causing the biggest problems that fossil fuels typically do. It burns a combination of natural gas and oxygen in a stream of high-temperature carbon dioxide circulating under enormous pressure. The resulting carbon dioxide drives the turbine in what is known as a supercritical fluid.

In other power plants, capturing carbon dioxide means adding separate equipment that draws a significant amount of energy. NET Power’s system captures the carbon dioxide it creates as part of its cycle, not as an add-on. Excess carbon dioxide can be later drawn and stored underground or used in other industrial processes. The plant’s operations produce none of the harmful particles emitted by coal plants or smoke-producing gases such as oxides of nitrogen and sodium.

The only other byproduct? This.

The company’s CEO, Ron DeGregorio, said that with commercial success, he believes NET Power will significantly reduce global carbon emissions. Many potential customers may still opt for coal power, but “bring it to market reliably and it will change the world”.

The company licenses its technology to its customers, and its partners and investors will build and operate the facilities. These include oil giant Occidental Petroleum, which has made a big bet on carbon capture; Constellation, which operates the power plants; and Baker Hughes, which manufactures the precision equipment required by the process. Rick Callahan, president of Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of Occidental, said this type of investment “shows that people are putting their money into their mouths with this project.”

The technology, like any power generating equipment, can be applied in a variety of ways, including power generation for industrial processes. Potential customers are getting creative. An iteration of the process planned by Belgian energy company TES proposes to incorporate NET Power technology into a complex energy storage and production chain as a way to provide hydrogen-based power. “NET Power technology is an excellent choice for the proposed system,” said Jens Schmidt, chief technology officer at TES.

Another proposed project in Louisiana will use NET Power’s technology to produce a variety of products, including hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. known as G2 Net-Zeroit will also include an export terminal for liquefied natural gas, or while many LNG export terminals are planned or under construction off the coast of Louisiana, the company’s president, LNG Charles E. Roemer IV, said building a cleaner alternative could create a new paradigm. .

The technology has drawn criticism, particularly over its reliance on methane infrastructure and the current limitations of carbon storage. Many environmentalists against LNG terminalslargely because they promoted the use of fossil fuels; The Sierra Club recently targeted what was planned for Cameron in Southwest Louisiana, including the G2 Net-Zero. arguing that they will cause serious environmental damage to the region.

“As long as a power plant runs on methane gas, it will continue to harm our climate and our communities,” said Jeremy Fisher, senior consultant for strategic research and development at the Sierra Club. “This technology does nothing to protect families living with pollution from drilling wells or near dangerous gas pipelines, and continues to allow large – and often insufficient – ​​amounts of climate-warming methane to seep out of wells, pipelines and utilities.”

Mr. Roemer reference to research It said it would work with natural gas suppliers “committed to reducing emissions” who have demonstrated that appropriate monitoring and swift action can greatly reduce methane leaks. As for exporting LNG to be burned elsewhere, he said, someone who buys their LNG can burn it in another NET Plant and avoid greenhouse gas emissions. “I will sell my product to people who are committed to what I am committed to,” he said.

“The problem we’re trying to solve is abundant, clean, affordable energy,” Mr. Roemer said. “I don’t see how you can be against what I’m doing.”

Technologies like NET Power will become even more attractive if, through regulation, countries make it profitable to capture and store carbon dioxide. Yet while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly cited carbon capture and storage as part of the solution to climate change, the details are yet to be resolved – and many in the climate science community see technology as an excuse to continue burning fossils. fuels, not a bona fide effort to decarbonize.

“What are you doing with this CO2?” asked Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University. “If it’s used to increase oil recovery, it still adds to the problems. If it’s buried, how safely and permanently is it buried?”

Supporters of the technology note that solar and wind power seem like long shots before government incentives help improve technologies and cut costs. Virginia Burkett, a lead scientist at the United States Geological Survey, said carbon sequestration in deep geological formations is a “proven technology” and noted that the National Academies of Sciences described it as ready for large-scale deployment in 2019.

Julio Friedmann, an expert in carbon removal technologies, described NET Power’s technology as “an incredibly elegant solution to a difficult problem.” However, working as a consultant at the company, Dr. On a commercial scale, success is not certain, Friedmann said.

“With physicists, ‘Physics is constant; the rest is just engineering.’ Engineering is really tough. In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. It’s in practice,” he said. “It’s still possible that they will fail – but I don’t think so.”