The UK Is Racing To Ramp Up Nuclear Power Capacity

By Felicity Bradstock - Jul 10, 2022

• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked chaos in Europe’s energy market.
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• The British government is now taking steps to solidify its domestic energy security.
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• The UK is looking to incentivize nuclear power production to help combat the energy crisis.

The U.K. appears to be going full throttle on its nuclear power plans. From big to small, the British government is encouraging the development of a variety of nuclear developments as it offers support for a wide range of clean energy projects to solidify the future of its domestic energy security.  Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent introduction of sanctions on Russian energy, several European powers are racing to boost their fossil fuel and renewable energy output to help them avoid shortages and ensure their energy security. While some are going all-in with renewable energy projects, others are backing more controversial nuclear energy developments. After a significant movement away from nuclear power in much of the world over the last few decades, several state governments are reembracing the much-critiqued energy source. 

In June, the U.K. government bought a 20 percent stake in the Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk for $100 million, demonstrating its dedication to a future with nuclear power in the energy mix. The development is owned by EDF and China General Nuclear Power (CGN), although the government’s stake could see CGN pushed out of the project after criticism of China becoming too heavily involved in U.K. infrastructure plans. 

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined national plans for the development of eight nuclear reactors by 2030. Sizewell C is expected to gain planning consent on 9th July, despite controversy over the construction costing taxpayers over double previous estimates and taking five years longer to build.

Delays have already been seen in EDF’s Hinkley Point C, which is expected to open a year later than planned, in 2027, and cost $3.6 billion more than anticipated, totaling between $30 and $31.5 billion. EDF is partnering with CGN on the construction of Hinkley and says the change in costs will not cause taxpayers any additional expense. The development was originally approved in 2016 but has seen delays due to pandemic disruption, according to EDF. 

In addition to largescale nuclear power projects, the U.K. is also embracing smaller-scale developments in a shift away from solely traditional nuclear plants. After announcing plans to construct several Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) across the U.K. last year, Rolls Royce is expected to be granted permission for development by 2024, having started the regulatory process this year. The company hopes to start generating nuclear power by 2029. 

Rolls Royce announced this week that it has established a site shortlist for its first SMR factory. The government is aiming to build 16 SMRs over 25 years as part of its decarbonization strategy. The SMRs can be built on a production line to be assembled on sites. The locations being suggested are Richmond in North Yorkshire, Deeside in Wales, Ferrybridge, Stallingborough in Lincolnshire, Sunderland, and Carlisle. The nuclear plant sites would receive an influx in investment as well as see a rise in the number of job opportunities in the region. 

The aerospace and defense company received $236 million in funding from private firms and $254 million from the government for its SMR business last year. SMRs are becoming more attractive as they take up considerably less space than a traditional nuclear power plant, at around a tenth of the size, while still providing enough energy to power around one million homes. Rolls Royce expects each SMR to be able to generate 470MW, equivalent to the power produced by 150 onshore wind turbines, costing $2.4 billion each.

And now a U.K. startup is looking for a piece of the action as it announces recent nuclear power innovations. In June, nuclear energy startup Newcleo raised $315 million in funds to develop its technology and launch pilot projects in France and the U.K.. Newcleo, based in London, aims to decrease the cost of nuclear power production using a lead-cooled fast reactor, a new technology that uses atmospheric pressure rather than high-pressure water reactors. The system can be fuelled by waste produced in traditional plants, without the need for mined uranium. It is thought to be safer than existing nuclear technology. 

Newcleo aims to construct its first 30MW prototype for $480 million, a fraction of the cost of a conventional nuclear plant. CEO of the firm Stefano Buono explained “We are going to use these reactors as a test for these technologies.” He added, “we believe our reactor is cheaper than current reactors.”

The prototype is expected to be scaled up for the construction of a 200MW plant if deemed viable. Newcleo is currently appealing to the U.K. government for building site approval and the granting of its operating permits. It also hopes to also produce mixed plutonium-uranium oxide fuel from processed nuclear waste.

Significant innovations are being seen in the U.K.’s nuclear power, with the potential for the construction of several new conventional power plants as well as the development of alternative nuclear reactors, thanks to recent innovations in technology. In addition to renewable energy developments, nuclear power is expected to contribute substantially to the U.K.’s decarbonization plans. 

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

Suncor Reveals Detailed Plan To Increase Oil Production While Reducing Emissions

By Carbon Credits - Jul 11, 2022, 

Canadian Suncor, once closely associated with the country's notoriously dirty oil sands, has big plans to go green.

The company is aiming to reduce its annual emissions by 10 megatonnes by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050.

Using new technology and carbon credits, Suncor is looking to ramp up production while still meeting its net-zero goals.

Suncor, one of North America’s largest oil companies, vows to cut annual emissions by 10 megatonnes by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

The Canadian-based oil sands company recently revealed its 2022 Climate Report, detailing its climate strategy.

Despite their emission reduction plans, they increased their Scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2021 over 2020.

As for its Scope 3 emissions, Suncor reported it to be 127 Mt CO2e.

Suncor’s Scope 3 emissions only include upstream production only. There is also downstream production, which includes everything down to the gas pump.

The whole process from exploration to the pump only equates to 20-30% of the overall carbon emissions, with up to 80% of the GHG emissions coming from the pump to the tailpipe.

Suncor has also forecasted to increase its oil production up to 800 thousand barrels/day through 2025. The graph below shows that the firm plans to grow oil production by 15% more than its 2020 levels.

Source: Rystad Energy UCube (September 2021); Oil Change International calculations based on IEA NZE and IPCC P1 scenarios

Suncor’s Carbon Emissions

Suncor’s major emission comes from its core business operation – the oil sands (80%). This includes five key processes, each of which contributes certain amounts to its entire carbon emission.

Suncor also has a higher emissions intensity versus the overall oil & gas sector, as a bulk of Suncor’s business is involved in the energy-intensive Canadian oil sands.

 

With Suncor planning on increasing production at the same time as they reduce overall emissions, they need to find a solution to quickly lower their carbon emissions.

To reach its ambitious net zero 2050 target, Suncor plans to reduce emissions through two major strategies:

• Optimize base business operations
• Expand low emissions businesses

Reducing Emissions in Base Business

In a snapshot, here’s how Suncor aims to reduce emissions by 2030.

Investing in CCUS

A big part of this strategy is to invest in Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS) projects. It involves capturing and sequestering CO2 from point sources or directly sucking it from the air.Related: China Continues To Buy Record Levels Of Russian Crude

Most energy forecasts consider CCUS technology as key to achieving the Paris Agreement goals. In fact, it’s also a critical component of Suncor’s net zero efforts.

The oil firm is a major player in the energy sector’s Pathway Alliance (Canada’s oil sands producers group) proposed carbon sequestration hub. It will include a carbon transportation line that connects over 20 oil sands facilities in northern Alberta to a carbon sequestration hub.

The image below illustrates the route.

Suncor is also investing in Svante which develops a post-combustion CO2 capture tech for industrial emissions. The CCUS technology captures CO2 from gas products and processes it for industrial use or permanent storage.

Fuel switching

The oil sands producer also explores fuel switching. It substitutes high-emitting fuels from coal-fired power plants with hydrogen or natural gas with lower emissions. A major example of this is Suncor’s Base Plant Cogeneration project that will start by late 2024.

Cogeneration refers to the process of producing both steam and electricity via a natural gas-fuelled process. In its project above, Suncor will replace petroleum coke with natural gas. It will also export low carbon electricity to the provincial grid to power Alberta homes and businesses.

Suncor claims that this initiative is vital to its net zero emissions target. It will reduce about 1 Mt CO2e of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Plus, it will also result in 4 Mt emissions reduction each year due to exporting low carbon power from natural gas.

Energy efficiency

This strategy involves a couple of initiatives to improve Suncor’s production efficiency. These include plenty of measures such as:

• replacing aging assets with modern designs;
• digital enhancements such as advanced process controls
• new chemistry aids;
• additive manufacturing for optimizing processes; and
• steam, boiler feedwater, and heat integration to enhance steam generation efficiency

A crucial part of this effort is the steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) enhancement processes. This involves the use of solvents and lower pressure for bitumen recovery. Bitumen is a semi-solid form of petroleum.

• SAGD technology has the potential to lower GHG emissions by 30%. If further enhanced, SAGD emissions reduction can be 70%.

If this initiative turns successful, it can produce electricity with zero carbon emissions while also improving Suncor’s bitumen recovery process.

Suncor aims to launch a pilot SAGD project to assess its low carbon potential by early 2023.

Expanding Low-emissions Businesses

Under this strategy is the low carbon power benefit of Suncor’s cogeneration project explained earlier. The lower carbon electricity that the project will produce can cut emissions by total of 5 Mt CO2e per year compared to coal-fired power.

Part of this effort is the use of renewable energy to generate power.

• Since 2002, Suncor has developed 8 wind power projects in 3 provinces. Today, the energy firm is a partner in 4 wind power facilities in Alberta and Ontario with 111 MW total capacity.

Suncor is also developing its Forty Mile power project in southeastern Alberta. It represents 200 MW of wind capacity.

Another key part of Suncor’s net zero emissions pathway has been investing in renewable fuels since the early 2000s. It invests in biofuel technologies that make ethanol and methanol out of waste streams. These include industrial, forestry, and agricultural wastes.

Suncor invests in companies that produce renewable fuels like LanzaTech and LanzaJet. LanzaTech uses bacteria to recycle CO2 waste into fuels and chemicals. LanzaTech focuses on producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using ethanol from recycled CO2 waste.

These renewable fuels give the oil major more ways to cut its carbon emissions.

Lastly, Suncor is producing grey hydrogen via its steam methane reforming process of natural gas. Using this hydrogen in its refineries helps in Suncor’s net zero emissions.

The firm also plans to use hydrogen to help decarbonize the transportation industry. It takes part in the Alberta Zero Emissions Truck Electrification Collaboration project, a multi-party effort to design, manufacture, and test hydrogen-powered trucks.

Working with others to reach net zero emissions

Apart from cutting emissions from its direct and indirect sources, Suncor seeks to work with others to cut its carbon footprint. The company will do this by:

• working with governments to provide affordable, low-carbon energy options for consumers
• growing its renewable fuels business to support increasing wholesale and retail demand
• expanding its hydrogen capacity to offer transportation solutions as demand increases
• expanding its coast-to-coast charging stations.

The oil giant has been pumping its money on innovations and technologies that can slash the sector’s emissions. It works or partners with XPRIZE, Avatar Innovations, Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), Evok Innovations, Energy Futures Lab, Clean Resource Innovation Network, and more.

Regulatory Emissions Credits

For the first time, Suncor disclosed the volume of its emission credits (also called carbon credits) to meet its compliance obligations.

• In 2021, the company retired about 0.6 Mt of emission credits. This reduces its equity emissions from 28.5 Mt CO2e to 27.9 Mt CO2e.

The carbon credits were from Suncor’s operations that performed better than regulatory benchmarks. They’re from its wind and cogeneration efforts that yield low carbon power and fuel. Some credits were also bought from carbon exchanges.

By CarbonCredits.com

Solving The Energy Transition Conundrum

By Osama Rizvi - Jul 11, 2022

• The narrative that the world will be able to quickly and effectively move away from fossil fuels has been majorly undermined this year.
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• At the same time, the problems of climate change are only getting worse and the need to reduce emissions is undeniable.
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• Ultimately, a realistic approach to reducing emissions while ensuring energy security is the only way forward from here.

The COP26, held in Glasgow last year, saw participating countries pledge that they will wean themselves off coal, a promise that has seen very limited progress since. Meanwhile, the IEA in its annual report titled Net Zero by 2050 warned that if the world is to reach the net-zero goal by 2050 there should be no new investments in oil, gas, and coal developments. That was in 2021. Today, floods are sweeping Bangladesh, India, and China. Food shortages are causing problems in the developing world with countries like Peru, Sri Lanka, and Ecuador suffering from large-scale protests and political instability. Meanwhile, heat waves of unprecedented magnitude have caused blackouts on a massive scale.

About 7 million Bangladeshis are still in need of help in the aftermath of floods that killed 101 people earlier this month. Meanwhile, floods in India have displaced millions and there has been an additional challenge of water-borne diseases. 

In southern China, thousands of people have been affected by flooding. Meanwhile, Pakistan has been baked by a record heat wave amid an energy shortage which meant that some areas were experiencing load-shedding every hour earlier this year.

These developments present a challenge to global policymakers as, on the one hand, they highlight the need to address the climate crisis and, on the other hand, they have also emphasized the fact that an abrupt transition will prove fatal. 

Extreme weather such as heat waves and floods—or droughts, like the one looming over California—highlight the urgency and significance of addressing the issue of climate change. Yet, this is unlikely to happen through emission reduction, especially since, per The Economist, the amount of global emissions is now 0.6 percent higher than before the pandemic. 

While the world suffers from the changing climate, it is also suffering a deepening shortage of energy due to geopolitical conflicts and underinvestment. This is where the dilemma of modern political decision-making lies. 

The world needs energy that it will consume regardless of emissions. Yet it would be much better for the planet if this energy comes with a small emission footprint. The trouble is that the low-carbon energy we already have is not performing well enough to replace fossil fuels. It might, therefore, be time to start thinking about adapting to the changing climate rather than deluding ourselves that we can reverse processes that took hundreds of years within a couple of decades.

Right now, energy security is taking precedence over emission reduction. Germany, one of the champions of the net-zero movement, is urgently building LNG import terminals and increasing coal power generation to make up for an anticipated shortage of Russian gas. The message: Yes, we know it’s fossil fuels but it’s only for a little while.

Related: Texans Brace For More Blackouts Amid Record-Breaking Heatwave

Meanwhile, the U.S. president is traveling to Saudi Arabia and while the official line is that he is not going there to ask for more oil, it is widely accepted that oil is a key factor in the visit. Americans are beginning to get tired of record-high prices at the pump while inflation runs at 40-year highs, and Biden needs to do something about it. Emissions reduction has taken the back seat, but it will soon become a major focus again.

All this points to the fact that humankind needs energy. Period. And because most of that energy is still coming from and will continue coming from fossil fuels, it may be time to change the climate change tune about an abrupt transition to something more realistic.

In this regard, the solution proposed by Fernando Hernandez, principal at Hernandez Analytica and Business Ambassador to Scotland, is very instructive. The Energy Basket approach takes on a non-binary approach where it advocates the creation of a grid that has a mixture of both conventional fuels and renewables with the long-term aim of moving towards renewables completely. It also caters to the major policy problem right now i.e. energy management in terms of contingency planning. 

Also, another approach that the authors endorse is that of realizing the importance of pathways and moving to the phrase “energy transitions” (yes, pluralized). It means that the world should expect that there will be different pathways for different countries to reach net zero. 

A holistic approach to the global energy transition is the need of the hour and current geopolitical tensions have given us a much-needed reality check. 

By Osama Rizvi and Irina Slav for Oilprice.com