CLEAN SYNTHETIC FUELS

From September 21 through September 23 Pittsburgh hosted the first Global Clean Energy Action Forum. Kirsty Gogan, TerraPraxis Co-Founder and Managing Partner, was invited to participate in several side events tackling with the toughest decarbonisation challenges such as how to repower coal-fired power fleets and hard-to-abate sectors including fuels.

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As part of the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) initiative, Eric Ingersoll - Co-Founder of TerraPraxis, moderated a webinar on clean synthetic fuels. The webinar included experts across several industries and organizations about the prospects for nuclear-derived zero-carbon fuels. Participants learnt about innovative ways nuclear power can be utilized to efficiently produce hydrogen for use in synthetic fuels, which in turn can decarbonize transportation and industrial sectors. erci was joined by Jason Marcinkoski, Program Manager, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, on behalf of the CEM NICE Future initiative and Jose Bermudez, Energy Analyst, International Energy Agency, on behalf of the CEM Hydrogen Initiative who gave introductory remarks. Speakers included: Elina Teplinsky, Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP; Carlos Leipner, Director, Global Nuclear Energy Strategy, Clean Air Task Force (CATF); Thibault Cantat, Research Scientist, French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA); Troels Schonfeldt, Co-founder and CEO, Seaborg Technologies; Chad Richards, Director, Nuclear Innovation Institute (NII)

The first ever Powered On Live shone a spotlight on the ever-changing electrical industry. On day 1, Kirsty Gogan participated on the fireside chat: Is there a need for nuclear power?. The UK currently leads the way in offshore wind capacity, but with the recent Energy Security Strategy, it seems that nuclear will be a key source of electricity for the country going forward. But with much opposition from environmental groups and even the Scottish Government, is committing to more nuclear power really the right strategy? Kirsty will share the event with Professor Gregg Butler, Head of Strategic Assessment at the Dalton Institute at the University of Manchester and Jonty Haynes, Senior Analyst, Regen. At the fireside Kirsty expressed: "We should consider what the risk to failing to decarbonise is..."

As the war in Ukraine continues to impact energy supplies, what's the future for nuclear power in Britain? Kirsty Gogan of TerraPraxis participated in the discussion of some of the most crucial questions we are facing today, such as—Where does this situation leave the international and UK's climate strategy and the race to Net Zero? And what are the risks facing nuclear power generation? She said, "We have to look at any of these risks in context and right now the reality is that we see 7 million premature deaths per year around the world from air pollution. So focusing on this and cleaning up all of our fossil fuel based energy infrastructure is really an incredible opportunity not only to address the climate challenges that we face but also the public health challenges that we face."

This event showed how communities can be uplifted by advanced heat source technologies and breakthrough innovations. Learn the ways countries and organizations are working to bring the social, economic, and environmental benefits of nuclear energy to communities around the world as they make clean energy transitions. Moderator: Jon Carmack, Senior Technical Advisor, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. Speakers: • Kirsty Gogan, Founder and Managing Director, TerraPraxis. • Christine King, Director, Gateway for Advanced Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN). • Chuck Tack, Vice President, Nuclear Operations, PacifiCorp. • Guy Lonechild, Chief Executive Officer, First Nations Power Authority, Canada. • Paweł Gładysz, Faculty of Energy and Fuels, AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland. • Princess Mthombeni, Founder, Africa4Nuclear.

Eric Ingersoll and Kirsty Gogan of TerraPraxis and LucidCatalyst attended the annual CleanTech Forum. Kirsty was featured on panel—The Terawatt Transition; Thinking Scale, Think Differently—about near-term climate-scale strategies that can compete on price and performance with fossil fuels that can address the largest and most difficult carbon emissions challenges—coal and liquid fuels. Customers, investors, and political leaders are aligning around strategies to accelerate the affordable repowering of 2 terawatts of coal, and delivery of 100 million barrels per day of carbon-neutral liquid fuels. These large-scale solutions would repurpose trillions of dollars of existing infrastructure and continue supplying reliable energy, without emissions, and can advance groundbreaking progress toward Net Zero by 2050. Co-hosted by Terrestrial Energy. Eric was on the panel—Carbon to Fuels: Pathways and Innovations—Electrification is set to revolutionize the emissions profile of the transportation sector. However, liquid fuels are likely to remain an important energy carrier, at least for long range flights and shipping. The potential challenges and opportunities for fuels derived from captured carbon were discussed. We invite you to watch the video of the TerraPraxis panels.

This webinar explored the advantages of floating low-carbon power plants — unique energy solutions ideal for remote regions, autonomous power grids, and offshore processing plants. Resistant to tsunamis and other natural disasters, floating plants supply cheap and clean energy where it is needed. With Kirsty Gogan of TerraPraxis, Elena Pashina of Rusatom Overseas, Mikal Boe of Core Power, Peder Norborg of Seaborg Technologies and Richard Jones of EDF Energy.

In a side event at COP26 in Glasgow, a group of prominent energy and environmental NGOs, industry, and trade organizations discussed the role of advanced nuclear energy in a decarbonized world. The organizations included ClearPath, Third Way, TerraPraxis, Clean Air Task Force, Nuclear Innovation Alliance, U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, Ultra-Safe Nuclear Corporation, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Kirsty Gogan represented TerraPraxis. Watch the video.

TerraPraxis hosted this high-level event in parallel with the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26)—Energy Day at Climate Action Solution Centre (CASC): De-Risking the Terawatt Transition. During the full-day event, key stakeholders revealed new near-term climate-scale strategies to compete on price and performance with fossil fuels that will break through the world’s largest and most difficult carbon emissions challenges: coal, and liquid fuels. Customers, investors and political leaders announced strategies to accelerate the affordable repowering of 2TW of coal and delivery of 100 million barrels/day of carbon-neutral liquid fuels. These large-scale solutions will repurpose trillions of dollars of existing infrastructure to continue supplying reliable energy, without emissions, and can advance groundbreaking progress toward Net Zero by 2050. The sessions were videotaped and can be viewed at the link below.

TerraPraxis participated in the session which featured: Felix Chow-Kambitsch of Urenco, Aubrey Allegretti of The Guardian, Kirsty Gogan of TerraPraxis, and MP Chris Skidmore. Kirsty Gogan presented the key findings of the report Decarbonising Hydrogen in a Net Zero Economy, commissioned by Urenco and initiated by Aurora Energy Research, which investigates the benefits of deploying renewables together with nuclear energy to support decarbonisation and reduce reliance on fossil fuels as a transitional fuel source in Great Britain. Note: TerraPraxis does not support any political party.

The Spanish Young Generation Network hosted the 2021 annual event in cooperation with the IAEA in Tarragona, Spain. This session addressed the essential contribution of nuclear in the way of decarbonising energy uses — from the mathematical methods used to determine the system costs of different transition strategies to the disruptive innovations and applications of nuclear reactors boosting the affordability of higher re-share mixes — and about commitments of public and private institutions promoting the role of nuclear around the world. This session brought some of the most relevant experts in the forward-looking analysis of nuclear energy in the energy transition, including: Vladimir Usanov: Chief Scientist, Institute for Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE), Rosatom; Kirsty Gogan: Managing Partner of TerraPraxis; and Henri Paillere: Head Planning and Economic Studies Section at IAEA.

The maritime sector faces increasing pressure from global organisations and consumers to reduce its carbon footprint. This workshop addressed the decarbonisation of marine shipping, focusing on the role of zero-carbon fuels (ZCFs), the role of nuclear energy in producing those fuels, and the challenges and opportunities likely to be encountered on the path to a low-carbon shipping industry. Kirsty Gogan and Eric Ingersoll of TerraPraxis participated.

This 12th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM12) event was hosted by the NICE Future initiative, and moderated by Kirsty Gogan of TerraPraxis. View the video of this session about clean energy and green hydrogen for fuels and industrial heat. Even as clean electricity becomes more readily available worldwide, emissions are still projected to continue, and rise, in difficult to decarbonize sectors, such as industry, aviation and shipping. This event explored opportunities to target these hard-to-abate sectors with advanced heat sources and hydrogen-enabled synthetic fuels to accelerate cost-effective transitions to zero emissions energy systems. Kirsty presents the findings from the Missing Link report starting at 21.30 and then at 53.30 there is an interesting Q&A session with all the panelists.

This 12th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM12) event was hosted by the NICE Future initiative, and moderated by Kirsty Gogan of TerraPraxis. View the video of this session with international leaders discussing how flexibility and integration can maximize the full potential of clean, reliable, and affordable power systems enabling the transition towards countries’ ambitious net zero goals. Note that at the 36th minute, Kirsty Gogan interviews current and former Director Generals Sama Bilbao y León, Grossi, and Magwood and then she has a conversation with Fatih Birol.

The WNA hosted this webinar exploring the role of nuclear energy to decarbonise sectors beyond electricity with two studies: Canadian Nuclear Association President, John Gorman, on the economic and climate implications of employing small modular reactors (SMRs) in Canada’s high-emitting industrial sectors, and TerraPraxis co-founder Eric Ingersoll, discussed how untapped options for clean hydrogen can put the world back on the pathway to the Paris climate goals.