99. Carbon Capture and Hydrogen: The ‘Most Exciting’ Things in Energy Sector's Future

Insiders have long been talking about the energy transition taking place within the power industry. Most of the chatter has revolved around renewable energy, specifically wind and solar power, and the shift from coal- to gas-fired generation in the U.S. However, one expert from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) told POWER that carbon capture and hydrogen are the “most exciting” technologies he sees impacting the energy sector between now and 2050. “The potential of carbon capture in this transition is going to be phenomenal. We have to figure this out. We have to deploy it,” Neil Wilmshurst, senior vice president of Energy System Resources with EPRI, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Wilmshurst suggested regulators are the biggest hurdle standing in the way of carbon capture projects, and that it will likely take the work of an organization such as EPRI to overcome the obstacles. He said a group like his “going to the regulators and saying, ‘What are you worried about? What would stop you permitting carbon storage in your area?’ and doing the research to help enable those regulators to make an informed decision” could be a difference-maker in getting projects off the ground. However, the costs associated with adding carbon capture to existing fossil-fueled power plants adds another layer of complexity. When asked about that aspect, Wilmshurst responded, “If you have coal assets or gas assets, they still produce CO2 despite all the improvements being made to them. If we’re going to have those assets actually returning their return on investment out beyond 2030, we need to address carbon capture. So, from my mind, one of the arguments for carbon capture is: we’ve already got some costs and infrastructure—the added cost of carbon capture—weigh those against the cost of shutting an asset down before its end of life. And that is maybe a discussion that isn’t actually thought about sometimes, that it’s not just the cost of the capture, it’s the stranded asset costs if we walk away from some of these gas