This article is part of UPSTARTA series about young companies utilizing new science and technology.
LA PORTE, TEXAS — It wasn’t like a movie. No one pulled down the big switch on the wall, producing a satisfying “thunk” and crackling electricity. Instead, one night in November last year, Net power, A clean energy technology company has clicked the mouse several times in a control room installed on a double-width trailer. At the last click, the company’s generator was synchronized with the Texas grid. This is a big step towards powering homes and businesses. After 27 minutes, the supervisor disconnected.
It may not sound like much, but a brief exhibit at this demonstration plant shows a new way to generate electricity that burns natural gas but does not produce the same greenhouse gases at a fraction of the capacity of a full-scale facility. I did. Emissions as fossil fuels may work well with the national power grid.
Cam Hosie, who heads 8 Rivers, NETPower’s first shareholder, said he was watching the test on his laptop that night. When the plants were in sync, he remembered, “I cried.”
This was a milestone for NETPower, which has been working on this technology for 12 years. The synchronization (the tricky feat of matching grid frequencies and other characteristics) has become a major source of interest as companies looking for a cleaner way to generate electricity have begun to seek licenses for NETPower’s technology. opened. Potential customers have announced plans for new factories around the world, including the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Carrie Jenks, Executive Director of Environment and Environment at Harvard Law School, said: Energy law program.
Most electric plants burn coal or natural gas or boil water by fission. The resulting steam spins the turbine. Combustion of these fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases, the main cause of climate change. Scientists warn that if these emissions cannot be stopped, an increasingly tragic disaster awaits.
Renewable energies (solar, wind, geothermal, etc.) have grown significantly as prices have fallen. However, many experts suggest that to bridge the gap between solar and wind supplies, we need a power source (what the industry calls “dispatchable” power) that can quickly start the grid.And some researchers Proposed The power grid can be built entirely from renewable energy and storage, Professor Jenks said, “I think fossils will continue to exist in our energy system in the near future.” So, “We need a lot of solutions to be able to keep going the way we need to go now. We still don’t know what the silver bullet is — and we find the silver bullet. I don’t think so, “she said.
Fans of NET Power say the company can make a difference. The technique burns natural gas without causing the biggest problems fossil fuels usually do. It burns a combination of natural gas and oxygen in a circulating stream of hot carbon dioxide under enormous pressure. The resulting carbon dioxide drives the turbine in what is known as a supercritical fluid.
At other power plants, recovering carbon dioxide means adding separate equipment that consumes significant energy. The NET Power system recovers the carbon dioxide it produces as part of the cycle, not as an add-on. It can then be discharged from excess carbon dioxide and stored underground or used in other industrial processes. Power plant operations do not generate the health-harmful particles emitted by coal-fired power plants or the gas that produces smog, such as nitrogen oxides and sodium oxides.
Its only other by-product? water.
NET Power believes that its commercial success can significantly reduce global carbon emissions, said Ron De Gregorio, CEO of the company. Many potential customers can still opt for coal-fired power, but “make sure it’s on the market and this will change the world.”
The company licenses the technology to its customers and partners and investors build and operate the plant. They include Occidental Petroleum, an oil giant that is making big bets on carbon recovery. The constellation that operates the power plant. Baker Hughes manufactures the kind of precision equipment needed for the process. Rick Callahan, president of Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of Occidental, said this type of investment “shows that people are spending money on this project.”
This technique, like any other power plant, can be applied in a variety of ways, including generating electricity for industrial processes. Potential customers are imaginative. One iteration of the process planned by the Belgian-founded energy company TES proposes incorporating NETPower technology into the complex chain of energy storage and power generation as a way to provide hydrogen-based electricity. Jens Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer of TES, said:
Another project proposed in Louisiana will use NET Power’s technology to produce a variety of products such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.Known as G2 net zeroLNG Charles E. Romer IV, chairman of the company, also includes an export terminal for liquefied natural gas, many LNG export terminals are planned or under construction along the Louisiana coast, but will build a cleaner alternative. He said that this could create a new paradigm. ..
This technology has sparked criticism, especially about its reliance on methane infrastructure and the limits of current carbon storage.Many environmentalists Compete with LNG terminals, Mainly to expand the use of fossil fuels. The Sierra Club recently targeted people, including the planned G2 Net-Zero in Cameron, southwestern Louisiana. Claim that they cause serious environmental damage to the area..
Jeremy Fisher, Senior Advisor to Strategic Research and Development at the Sierra Club, said: “This technique cannot protect contaminated families from hydraulic fracturing or next to dangerous gas pipelines, and from wellheads, pipelines, plants in large quantities and often underestimated climate warming methane. Continue to tolerate leaks. “
Roemer noted research showing that proper monitoring and swift action can significantly reduce methane leaks, and said he would work with natural gas suppliers “working to reduce emissions.” Regarding exporting LNG for burning elsewhere, he said someone who received his LNG could burn it at another NET power plant and avoid greenhouse gas emissions. “I’m going to sell my product to people who are committed to the same things I’m committed to,” he said.
“The problem we are trying to solve is abundant, clean and affordable energy,” said Remer. “I don’t know how you can oppose what I’m doing.”
Technologies like NETPower will become even more attractive if countries make a profit by recovering and storing carbon dioxide through regulation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly cited carbon capture and storage as part of its climate change solution, but details have not yet been elucidated. Much of the climate science community is assembling this technique as an excuse to keep fossil fuels burning. fuel, Not a sincere effort to decarbonize..
“What do you do with that CO2?” Asked Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University. “Even if it is used for enhanced oil recovery, it is still the cause of the problem. If it is buried, how safe and permanent will it be?”
Technology proponents say solar and wind power looked like a long shot before government incentives helped refine technology and reduce costs. Virginia Burkett, a key scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey, said carbon sequestration in deep formations is a “proven technology” and the National Academy of Sciences is “ready for large-scale deployments” in 2019. Said.
Julio Friedman, a carbon removal technology expert, called NETPower’s technology “an incredibly elegant solution to a difficult problem.” However, Dr. Friedman, an adviser to the company, said success on a commercial scale is uncertain.
“I had a lot of discussions with physicists.” Physics has been solved. The rest is just engineering. “Well, engineering is really difficult. In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In fact, there is, “he said. “It can still fail, but I don’t think so.”
