Steel Manufacturer Unveils Collaboration With Helion to Develop 500-MW Fusion Plant
September 30, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 30, 2023
Nucor Corp. on Sept. 27 announced a collaboration with fusion power company Helion to develop a 500-megawatt fusion power plant.
The project will offer baseload zero-carbon electricity from fusion directly to a Nucor steelmaking facility.
Nucor and Helion are working together to set a firm timeline and are committed to beginning operations as soon as possible with a target of 2030.
Nucor is making a direct investment of $35 million in Helion to accelerate fusion deployment in the United States.
Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Helion in May announced an agreement to provide Microsoft electricity from its first fusion power plant. Constellation will serve as the power marketer and will manage transmission for the project.
The plant is expected to be online by 2028 and will target power generation of 50 MW or greater after a 1-year ramp up period.
IRS to Open Low-Income Bonus Credit Application Process on October 19
September 27, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 27, 2023
The Internal Revenue Service on Sept, 27 announced that applications for the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit program under Section 48(e) of the Internal Revenue Code will open on October 19.
The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program will allocate 1.8 gigawatts of capacity available through competitive application for the 2023 program across four categories of qualified solar or wind facilities with maximum output of less than five megawatts.
The IRS intends to allocate up to:
- 700 megawatts to facilities located in low-income communities;
- 200 megawatts to facilities located on Indian land;
- 200 megawatts to facilities that are part of federally subsidized residential buildings, including housing supported by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Section 8 of the Housing Act; and
- 700 megawatts to facilities where at least 50 percent of the financial benefits of the electricity produced go to households with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty line or below 80 percent of area median gross income.
Depending on the availability of capacity, applications for the 2023 program are expected to be accepted through early next year.
The Treasury Department and IRS may choose to reallocate capacity between categories in the event of oversubscription in any category, and unclaimed capacity will roll over into the 2024 program year, when another base 1.8 GW of capacity will be available via application.
To provide information about the application process ahead of this date, Treasury and the Department of Energy will be launching a program “help desk” and hosting a webinar about the application process on September 29.
Potential applicants can register for the webinar here. The webinar recording will be made available online after the event for those who cannot attend.
Additional materials to help applicants prepare their submissions will be made available on the Department of Energy landing page in the coming weeks.
For more information about this program and other energy tax provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act, see the American Public Power Association’s “Guidance on Energy Tax Credits for Utilities” located here.
The page is intended to provide a collection of materials and guidance for public power utilities from APPA, the Internal Revenue Service, and others related to accessing energy tax credits.
Officials with Energy Northwest, Douglas County PUD Detail SMR, Hydrogen Efforts
September 26, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 26, 2023
At a recent Northwest Public Power Association conference, Jason Herbert, Senior Director for External Strategy at Energy Northwest, detailed the joint action agency’s plans for the development of small modular reactors, while Meaghan Vibbert, Public Information Officer, at Washington State’s Douglas County PUD, provided an update on the PUD’s renewable hydrogen project.
Herbert and Vibbert participated in a panel at the Northwest Public Power Association’s Northwest Innovations in Communications Conference in Santa Rosa, Calif., last week. Another panelist, Brent Bischoff, General Manager and CEO of Oregon’s Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative, discussed the cooperative’s pursuit of an offshore floating wind project.
In July, Energy Northwest and X-Energy Reactor Company LLC announced the signing of a joint development agreement for up to 12 advanced small modular reactors in central Washington capable of generating up to a total of 960 megawatts of electricity.
Under the agreement, the project is expected to be developed at a site controlled by Energy Northwest adjacent to the JAA’s Columbia Generating Station.
“We think this is an ideal place to build and to tap into some existing infrastructure capacity and transmission capacity that we have out there,” Herbert said.
One of things that is attractive about the SMR technology is that there is continuous online refueling, Herbert said.
While existing traditional nuclear power plants have to undergo refueling outages, X-Energy’s SMR design never has to go offline for a refueling outage, he pointed out.
In addition, the SMR design is attractive to Energy Northwest because it is scalable, said Herbert. “We can license up to 12 80-megawatt modules – so 960 megawatts of total output on one site, but we don’t have to build all 12 of them at first,” he noted.
“We can start with four, which is what our current plan is to do, so 320 megawatts, but we’ll license it” with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 12 modules.
“The plan is to have this come online in 2031 and, if in 2035, a big industrial end user or a data center comes to us and says, hey, we need 400 megawatts – we can say, OK, in three years we can add in four more modules because we’ve already gotten the license for them, we don’t have to go back to the NRC,” he said.
“The way I describe it is we’re building a parking lot with 12 spaces and we’re only allowing four cars, but anytime we want to buy more cars we don’t have to build additional spaces,” he said.
Another advantage with the SMR technology is that fuel is a variable cost. “When you back this reactor down, your fuel is not cycling through the plant anymore, whereas with existing plants, your fuel is a fixed cost, you’re refueling every two years,” he said. With SMRs, “we could save up to forty percent on our fuel when we load follow, which is a huge advantage, especially as we see more penetration of intermittent renewables on the grid.”
Herbert also detailed the safety features of the X-Energy SMRs.
Energy Northwest is a Washington state public power joint operating agency. Energy Northwest comprises 28 public power member utilities, serving more than 1.5 million customers.
Douglas County PUD Hydrogen Project
Meanwhile, Douglas County PUD’s Vibbert provided details on the PUD’s green hydrogen project.
Earlier this year, the PUD said that it was moving ahead with the second phase of its green hydrogen project.
Specifically, Douglas County PUD Commissioners Ronald Skagen, Aaron Viebrock and Molly Simpson recently approved the purchase of a second 5-megawatt electrolyzer. Delivery of the second electrolyzer is expected to take 24 months.
The pilot project will provide flexibility to Douglas PUD operations at its Wells Hydroelectric Project.
Generation requests can be sent to the hydrogen electrolyzer to reduce the mechanical adjustments necessary at the Wells Hydroelectric Project to balance the grid. This will reduce the maintenance necessary on the turbine units and associated equipment.
Vibbert noted that the hydrogen project is being designed so that it can be scaled up to approximately 100 megawatts.
The hydrogen will also be sold for industrial purposes and as transportation fuel, Vibbert said.
She said that the PUD anticipates production to start at the hydrogen facility in June 2024.
APPA Emphasizes Need to Streamline and Reform Hydropower Licensing Process
September 25, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 25, 2023
The American Public Power Association on Sept. 19 underscored the need to streamline and reform the licensing process for hydropower projects.
Desmarie Waterhouse, Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Communications & General Counsel at APPA, outlined APPA’s positions on hydropower in a Statement for the Record submitted for a hearing held by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security.
In the statement, Waterhouse also noted APPA’s strong support for legislation sponsored by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who is Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The legislation is H.R. 4045, the Hydropower Clean Energy Future Act, which would confirm that hydropower is an essential renewable energy resource and reform the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission‘s licensing process to protect existing hydropower resources and encourage the development of small and next-generation projects.
There is significant potential for new hydropower to be generated at non-powered dams throughout the country and to increase output at existing hydropower facilities, Waterhouse said in the Statement for the Record. “But there are excessive barriers to tapping this potential.”
FERC is the primary federal agency responsible for the licensing and relicensing of such non-federal hydroelectric projects, “but the process can be lengthy, difficult, costly, and uncertain for applicants,” Waterhouse said.
Under the Federal Power Act, FERC must establish requirements in conjunction with the license that give “equal consideration” to not only power needs, but also Endangered Species Act requirements, water quality issues, marine navigation, and other public-interest concerns.
”FERC must carefully evaluate many aspects of a hydropower project, but at the same time, state and federal agencies can impose ‘mandatory conditions’ that FERC cannot balance or modify in the public interest,” Waterhouse said.
“While it is appropriate to consider a broad array of factors, this process must be streamlined and reformed. Critical new additions to existing hydropower facilities are languishing under bureaucratic and often contradictory processes that can span a decade or more or which simply become too costly,” she said.
“The byzantine licensing and permitting processes are also a significant impediment to simply maintaining existing hydropower capacity.”
Between now and 2030, 281 facilities representing nearly 14 gigawatts of hydropower generation and pumped storage capacity (roughly 30 percent of FERC hydropower licenses) are up for relicensing.
“We simply cannot afford to lose existing hydropower capacity without threatening to miss emission reduction goals and grid resiliency,” Waterhouse wrote.
APPA commended McMorris Rodgers’ recognition of the importance of hydropower and her efforts to protect and expand its use in her bill, H.R. 4045, the Hydropower Clean Energy Future Act.
The bill would establish a sense of Congress that hydropower “is a renewable resource for purposes of all Federal Programs and is an essential source of energy in the United States,” ensure any “mandatory conditions” are directly relevant to the project, and designate FERC as the lead agency for purposes of National Environmental Policy Act review with respect to all federal authorizations required for licensing.
Federal Power Marketing Administrations
The Statement for the Record also addressed the key role that federal hydropower and federal Power Marketing Administrations play as “critical, though often overlooked, elements of the nation’s power supply.”
“APPA supports the continued existence and federal ownership of the PMAs and the sale of federally generated hydropower at cost-based rates,” wrote Waterhouse.
“APPA strongly opposes any efforts to disproportionately assign costs to federal hydropower users for which they receive no additional benefit,” Waterhouse said.
In the statement, APPA highlighted a May 2023 letter from the four PMA administrators to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor regarding Corps policies and practices that are impacting the economic viability of federal hydropower and are leading to permanent reductions in generation capability.
APPA also submitted a policy resolution approved by APPA’s membership, “In Support of Hydropower, the Federal Columbia River Power System, and Opposing Breach of the Lower Snake River Dams.”
Details from Hearing
Witnesses at the hearing on Sept. 20 were Terry Turpin, Director of the Office of Energy Projects, FERC, John Hairston, Administrator, Bonneville Power Administration, Thomas Smith, Chief of Operations and Regulatory Division, Army Corps of Engineers and Matt Lee-Ashley, Chief of Staff, Council on Environmental Quality.
Subcommittee members unanimously said that they supported hydropower and highlighted its benefits to grid reliability.
But Democrats and Republicans split when discussing the specific provisions of H.R. 4045.
Republicans said the legislation is urgently needed to reform and streamline the licensing/relicensing process, noting that nearly half of the non-federal U.S. hydropower fleet will be up for relicensing by 2035 and citing the fact that only three percent of the nation’s 90,000 dams provide hydropower.
Democrats said that H.R. 4045 would create significant exemptions that bypass some of the most important environmental laws.
Democrats, including Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette, D-Colo., expressed concern with certain provisions of the bill including its exemption of projects 40 megawatts or less from certain licensing and environmental reviews from the previous exemption level of 10 megawatts.
FERC’s Turpin said that about 80% of the existing dams regulated by FERC are 40 megawatts or less.
Bureau of Land Management Approves Geothermal Project in Utah
September 25, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 25, 2023
The Bureau of Land Management recently approved the Rodatherm Geothermal Test Bed project, which would assess the commercial viability of an advanced geothermal electricity generation facility on BLM-managed lands in Beaver and Millard counties, Utah.
Successful testing has the potential to support future commercial development, continuing the BLM’s commitment to clean energy development on our nation’s public lands.
The project is expected to operate for approximately 12 months and will involve the development of two well pads, drilling of five wells, testing of two closed geothermal loops, and construction of necessary access roads. The project approval comes along with a Finding of No Significant Impact, a step in the environmental review process.
The decision record, Finding of No Significant Impact, and the environmental assessment may be found on BLM’s ePlanning website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022615/510.
Geothermal was the first type of renewable energy that the BLM approved for production on public lands, with the first project approved in 1978.
Today there are 48 operating power plants developing geothermal energy from BLM-managed lands, with a combined total of more than 2.5 gigawatts of generation capacity. Learn more at the BLM’s Geothermal Energy page.
Chevron Acquires Majority Interest in Utah Clean Hydrogen Project
September 21, 2023
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
September 21, 2023
Chevron, in a deal with Magnum Development, has acquired a majority interest in the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah, that is being built to produce and store hydrogen fuel.
The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project plans to use electrolysis to convert renewable energy into hydrogen and to use solution mined salt caverns for seasonal, dispatchable storage of the energy.
The first project, designed to convert and store up to 100 metric tons per day of hydrogen, is under construction and is expected to enter commercial-scale operations in mid-2025 to support the Intermountain Power Project’s IPP Renewed initiative.
Several other opportunities for the project to produce and supply hydrogen to customers in the utility, transportation and industrial sectors in the western region of the United States are in development, Chevron said.
In June 2022, the Department of Energy announced it closed on a $504.4 million loan guarantee to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project, marking the first loan guarantee for a new renewable energy technology project from the agency’s Loan Programs Office since 2014.
The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project is designed to capture excess renewable energy when it is most abundant, store it as hydrogen, then deploy it as fuel for the IPP Renewed Project, a hydrogen-capable gas turbine combined-cycle power plant that intends to incrementally be fueled by 100 percent clean hydrogen by 2045.
The IPP Renewed project is owned by the Intermountain Power Agency, a political subdivision of the state of Utah organized to undertake and finance a facility to generate electricity, now known as the Intermountain Power Project. The Intermountain Power Agency has 35 participants, mostly municipalities in Utah and Southern California.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest power purchaser of electricity from the Intermountain Power Project, also serves as the operating agent and project manager of the project.
Chevron U.S.A., through its Chevron New Energies division, closed the transaction with Haddington Ventures earlier this month, acquiring 100 percent of Magnum Development, which had a majority interest in ACES Delta, a joint venture of Mitsubishi Power Americas and Magnum Development that is developing the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project.
NCMPA 1 Nears PPA Completion Tied to Sale of Capacity, Energy from Nuclear Plant
September 15, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 15, 2023
North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 and Central Electric Power Cooperative Inc. are near completion of a purchase power agreement that will enable Central Electric Power Cooperative to purchase nuclear capacity and energy associated with a portion of NCMPA1’s ownership interest in the Catawba Nuclear Station.
Under the terms of the agreement, Central will receive 150 megawatts, totaling 18% of NCMPA1’s project output.
The agreement diversifies NCMPA1’s energy resource portfolio and provides wholesale electric rate savings to NCMPA1’s 19 member communities.
“This agreement is an important step in diversifying the energy portfolio for public power communities in the western part of the state and delivers significant wholesale electric rate savings to those communities,” said Roy Jones, CEO of ElectriCities, in a statement.
“The 19 unanimous city and town council votes are a strong reminder of the strength and partnership of those communities working together to set up public power for success now and far into the future,” he said.
The agreement would provide Central, a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, with additional nuclear capacity to serve South Carolina’s 20 distribution cooperatives.
Completion of the agreement is subject to several conditions, including unanimous consent of all 19 NCMPA1 participant city and town councils.
As of Aug. 30, all 19 NCMPA1 participants voted to approve the agreement.
The ElectriCities Board of Directors and the NCMPA1 Board of Commissioners approved the agreement earlier this year.
The agreement is slated to go into effect January 1, 2024, and will continue through the term of the Catawba Nuclear Station, which is currently licensed through 2043.
The Catawba Nuclear Station, which consists of two identical units, is jointly owned by NCMPA1, Duke Energy Carolinas, Piedmont Municipal Power Agency, and the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, with NCMPA1 owning 75% of Catawba Unit 2.
NCMPA1 is made up of 19 participating cities and towns in piedmont and western North Carolina and provides wholesale power to those participants.
The 19 NCMPA1 participants are Albemarle, Bostic, Cherryville, Cornelius, Drexel, Gastonia, Granite Falls, High Point, Huntersville, Landis, Lexington, Lincolnton, Maiden, Monroe, Morganton, Newton, Pineville, Shelby, and Statesville.
Company, Wolverine Power Cooperative Reach Deal to Restart Mich. 800-MW Nuclear Power Plant
September 12, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 12, 2023
Holtec International and Michigan’s Wolverine Power Cooperative on Sept. 12 announced that they have entered into a long-term agreement that will pave the way for the restart of the 800-megawatt Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert Township, Michigan.
The foundation of this partnership is a long-term power purchase agreement, with Wolverine committing to purchase up to two-thirds of the power generated by the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant for its Michigan-based member rural electric cooperatives.
Wolverine’s non-profit rural electric cooperative project partner, Hoosier Energy, will purchase the balance. Wolverine is owned by seven member cooperatives.
Following Holtec’s acquisition of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in June 2022, after the May 2022 shutdown, “the plant is now on track to become the first successfully restarted nuclear power plant in the United States, thanks to the strong support it has received from its community, state, and federal partners,” Wolverine Power Cooperative said.
In early 2023, Holtec submitted an application with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office for federal loan funding to repower Palisades. The company is working cooperatively with DOE to move the loan application process forward.
Holtec has also participated in several public meetings with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff to discuss the proposed regulatory path to reauthorize operations at Palisades within the agency’s existing regulatory framework.
Former Coal Plant in West Virginia Being Converted to Burn Hydrogen
September 11, 2023
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
September 11, 2023
A California company plans to convert a dormant West Virginia coal plant into a hydrogen burning power station and graphite production plant.
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice recently announced that Omnis Fuel Technologies plans to invest $800 million in the 1,200-megawatt coal-fired Pleasants power plant that was slated to retire in June.
The California company plans to build a facility to produce graphite, which is used in electric vehicle batteries, from coal and to capture the hydrogen produced in the process to fuel a newly configured power plant at the site.
In July, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the sale of the Pleasants power station in Willow Island, West Virginia, from an affiliate of Houston-based Energy Transition and Environmental Management to an affiliate of Omnis Fuel Technologies LLC, based in Santa Barbara, California, which renamed the plant Quantum Pleasants.
Prior to Omnis Fuel taking control of the plant, Energy Transition and Environmental Management had been leasing the plant from Energy Harbor until a new owner could be found for the mothballed plant.
FirstEnergy Solutions took ownership of the Pleasants plant from FirstEnergy’s Allegheny Energy Solutions subsidiary in 2020 as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. FirstEnergy Solutions emerged from bankruptcy as Energy Harbor in February 2020.
In 2017, FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison filed plans to acquire the Pleasants power station. FERC subsequently rejected those plans.
Omnis Fuel Technologies said it plans to return the Pleasants plant to normal operations in the next few weeks and aims to convert the plant to burning hydrogen over the next 12 to 24 months.
Omnis will use coal to produce hydrogen, graphite, and water vapor and, in the process, more than double the amount of coal the plant consumes, Justice said. When the project is complete, the plant that currently employs about 160 workers will need upwards of 600 employees, Justice added.
Omnis Fuel said its aim is to use existing power plant infrastructure to make clean hydrogen and high-grade graphite from plentiful, low-cost hydrocarbons using its patented Ultra-High Temperature Omnis Quantum Pyrolysis technology.
NRC Accepts for Review Application Related to UAMPS Small Modular Reactor Project
September 7, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 7, 2023
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted a Limited Work Authorization application for formal review related to a small modular reactor project being pursued by Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems.
After technical review of the application, which was submitted on July 31, 2023, the NRC has docketed the application that seeks approval to commence early construction activities for the Carbon Free Power Project prior to issuance of the Combined License.
The NRC staff’s goal is to conduct and complete an efficient and high-quality review of the LWA application by August 2025, which will align with scheduled activity progression on the project.
When approved, the LWA will pave the way for the initiation of early-scope construction that is expected to start mid-2025.
“Our team is pleased that the NRC has accepted the LWA application as it represents a major achievement in the project’s advancement and brings the CFPP closer to its objective,” said Mason Baker, CFPP LLC President. CFPP LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UAMPS.
“The commencement of early construction activities is a vital step in advancing the project and sets a noteworthy precedent in the field of small modular nuclear energy regulation and development,” he said.
CFPP LLC submitted the LWA application as the first part of the CFPP Combined License Application.
This was the first instance under the current LWA regulations where a standalone LWA application was submitted in advance of the remainder of the COLA. The second part of the CFPP Combined License Application remains on schedule to be submitted to the NRC in January 2024.
The LWA application acceptance is a key development for the CFPP.
The CFPP will utilize NuScale Power’s VOYGR™-6 SMR power plant design. NuScale’s Standard Design Approval application is based on a VOYGR power plant design featuring six 77 MWe NuScale Power Modules™.
The CFPP is proposed to be sited within the southwest region of the Idaho National Laboratory in southeast Idaho. The INL site, a U.S. Department of Energy facility, covers an expansive area of approximately 890 square miles and is situated near Idaho Falls, Idaho.