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Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Atomic politics

Ontario leads the way to clean energy credit registry

October 7, 2022 By Rod Adams 6 Comments

OPG and Microsoft link up with Clean Energy Credits (CECs)

On September 26, 2022, Microsoft Canada and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) announced an important agreement for clean energy credits (CECs). The most significant part of the deal was the fact that OPG would supply the credits from its nuclear and hydro-electric plants. Microsoft will procure the credits on an hour by hour basis to match the consumption of its data centers and other energy consuming activities.

Coming from one of the biggest of the Big Tech firms, Microsoft’s action could stimulate a major change in the clean energy landscape, with all non-emitting power sources being treated more equally and their product being more fairly valued against the CO2-intensive hydrocarbons that still dominate the energy market.

Matching consumption as it happens with clean energy allows the company to move closer to its stated 100/100/0 goal, which the company defines as 100 percent of electrons, 100 percent of the time supplied by zero CO2 sources. By shifting its own consumption pattern to meet this goal, the company hopes to move closer to a vision where all of the world’s grids achieve the standard.

The inclusive CECs that Microsoft has agreed to purchase are an expansion of the older, less inclusive system of renewable energy credits (RECs) that have played an important role in making wind and solar power development an attractive investment. Income from RECs has long given developers a return on the clean energy characteristics of their power plants and significantly increased the rate at which the power plants were erected.

Agreement has far reaching implications

The agreement between Microsoft and OPG includes collaboration on the development of a trading, tracking and accounting system using Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform. Scaling the system that the companies are developing will increase its climate impact enabling a broader range of providers and customers to participate in a process that recognizes value of clean energy that matches demand when it occurs.

In 2021, the global renewable energy credit market was estimated to be worth more than $12 billion and projected to grow to more than $100 billion by 2030. Though relatively small compared to the amount of capital being deployed in building renewable energy projects, REC income helps make the investment case and speeds development.

Though clean energy credits that value the environmental attributes of hydro and nuclear power are not entirely new, previous programs have been isolated to narrowly defined plants facing specific economic challenges. They were designed to provide a minimal lifeline to prevent plant closure rather than to provide investment incentives or a recognition of the higher value that clean power deserves in a world facing dire threats from climate change.

Developing a clean energy registry in Ontario

OPG/Microsoft’s agreement is a prelude to Ontario’s evolving process of creating a clean energy registry. As it is currently envisioned and described, the system is limited to purchases by Ontario businesses from Ontario suppliers.

The intent of the CEC registry is to offer Ontario industry and consumers a transparent tracking system that shows voluntarily purchased CECs that have been generated in Ontario.

Province of Ontario “Development of a Clean Energy Credit Registry”

In August 2022, Ontario posted a description of its proposed clean energy registry and requested comments. The comment period closed on September 16. The Ministry of Energy is now developing the system and expects it to be operational in early 2023. The Ministry of Energy provided Atomic Insights with a brief summary of their reasons for developing the system and the expected results once the system is operational and being voluntarily adopted.

As environmental and sustainability goals increasingly influence corporate decisions on where to invest and grow, Ontario is leveraging our province’s world class clean electricity grid by launching a voluntary CEC registry to boost competitiveness and attract jobs.

Ontario is continuing its strong economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with our highly skilled workforce, available tax credits, and a world-class research and development ecosystem, a CEC registry will contribute to Ontario’s attractiveness as a top destination for manufacturing investment by allowing businesses to meet their corporate sustainability goals and demonstrate that their electricity has been sourced from clean resources. 

Revenue from CEC sales could also provide value for ratepayers and support the future development of new clean energy projects in the province.

This would help to keep costs down for Ontario families, support electrification and help the province reduce emissions even further. 

We anticipate the Clean Energy Credit registry will be operational by early 2023.


Email to Atomic Insights from Ministry of Energy Communications Branch Oct 6, 2022

Will nuclear and hydro CEC sales help increase clean energy production?

It might be a mere coincidence, but three days after announcing that it had sold clean energy credit sale to a very large company, Ontario Power Generation announced that it was going to keep operating the Pickering nuclear power plant through at least 2026. That decision was the result of a request by its sole shareholder, the Province of Ontario.

The short extended period of operations will provide OPG with the time to conduct a reevaluation of its 2009 decision to close Pickering and replace its output with natural gas power production. That 13-year old decision came soon after the global financial crisis and the fracking boom. At the time, even the Sierra Club was calling natural gas clean. Times and the market have changed significantly.

Atomic Insights asked the OPG Media Relations Office if the Pickering announcement and the clean energy program announcement were related.

The Clean Energy Credit market in Ontario is still nascent, as is the market for credits from nuclear facilities, and will need time to develop. OPG will continue to monitor the market as it evolves, and factor any insights and value drivers that can be used into future investment decisions. We are encouraged that Microsoft, an environmentally driven large technology company, with a global footprint, is including nuclear energy in its clean power mix and recognizing the value of nuclear and hydro as clean, baseload generation required in the energy mix to drive to net zero.

Email response to Atomic Insights from Kim Lauritsen, OPG VP – Energy Markets Oct 6, 2022

If the closure decision had not been changed, Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions would have quickly increased by 2.1 million metric tons per year.

Though it is an exciting development for clean energy, the decision to keep operating Pickering still needs approval.

OPG requires approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for its revised schedule. The CNSC, which employs a rigorous and transparent decision-making process, will make the final decision regarding Pickering’s safe operating life. OPG will continue to ensure the safety of the Pickering facility through rigorous monitoring, inspections, and testing.


Ontario Supports Plan to Safely Continue Operating the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station

It is unlikely that the deal with Microsoft will be an isolated occurrence. There are dozens of other large companies, some in the same data center operations business as Microsoft, that have made pledges to power their operations with clean energy that matches demand at the time it exists.

Objections from critics

Despite all of its claimed and potential benefits, the deal has not received universal approval. Critics, some of whom are habitually opposed to nuclear and large hydro, have provided several reasons for their opposition.

  • The arrangement rewards existing power plants whose power is already under contract for something they are already doing. It does not automatically result in additional clean energy.
  • Allowing OPG’s large volume of clean energy, roughly 27 GWe, into the offset market would flood the market, reducing the value of RECs and PPAs for renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
  • There has been no commitment from OPG and no requirement from Ontario that the income from CECs would be directed to development of new clean energy sources
  • Using income from selling CECs to reduce electricity bills would subsidize customers and cause them to use more electricity, presumably from burning natural gas.
  • Sales of clean energy credits to customers outside of Ontario would reduce the cleanliness of Ontario’s power production. It would be double counting to claim a clean grid while selling the attribute of cleanliness to a third party.

Note: Above points have been compiled from several sources that have offered different versions of similar objections. The Atmosphere Fund (Bryan Purcell), Environmental Defense (Lana Goldberg), The City of Ottawa (Mike Fletcher) and Climate New Network Energy Mix (Clifford Maynes).

The objections have a varying degree of validity.

Subsidizes actions that would have been done anyway

Though it’s true that Ontario’s hydroelectric dams and nuclear power plants were built several decades ago, it is less true that their electricity production already exists. Every kilowatt hour they produce is a new kilowatt hour that did not exist and is immediately consumed.

Recent history in both Canada and the United States shows that nuclear plants that do not generate sufficient revenue are vulnerable to being shut down. When that happens, they stop creating new clean kilowatt hours. Convincing large companies like Microsoft to pay more for electricity that is worth more because it is clean helps keep those old plants operating.

The objection has more validity for plants that are under contract, but electricity sales contracts generally cover only a moderate period of time. When the contract expires, CECs should be part of the new negotiation.

New CECs will flood the REC/PPA market

The new CECs will initially tip the supply-demand balance in favor of customers. Said another way, they will reduce market prices. But the availability of clean energy credits that can be combined with both firm and variable sources of clean energy to match demand as it occurs could increase the size of the customer base enough to overcome the effect, eventually making all clean energy worth a higher price for customers.

No commitment to use CEC income for more clean energy projects

Ontario is not yet requiring OPG to use the income from CECs to expand its clean energy generation, but the province has requested the extension of Pickering and is strongly supporting OPGs program to build small modular reactors (SMRs) and micro modular reactors (MMRs).

Those programs will be more cost effective in jurisdictions where clean energy fetches a higher price than dirty energy. Big companies and governments are presumably aware of the fungibility of money and the emptiness of promises to use a certain category of income for certain designated purposes.

Using CEC to reduce customer costs

The objection to using income from CECs to reduce costs for consumers reveals something almost sinister among those who object to the program. In today’s market, electricity customers, a group that includes every resident, are stressed by inflationary pressures.

Those pressures are especially worrisome for products like electricity whose use cannot be avoided. With lower electricity prices, customers are likely to celebrate lower monthly bills and shift the dollars to food, medicine and rent. Using more electricity is probably much lower on their list of items they want to buy.

Potential for double-counting if sold outside province

There are good reasons for concern about the effects of CEC sales to customers located outside of Ontario. Claiming cleanliness of Ontario’s grid while simultaneously selling the attribute of clean electricity outside of Ontario is a double-counting tactic that was pursued under the SPEED program in Vermont. It is a practice that must be avoided. As currently described Ontario’s clean energy registry is limited to customers in Ontario from suppliers in Ontario, but this part of the plan deserves careful tracking to make sure it isn’t changed in ways that degrade the program.

Bottom Line: A credible, well structured clean energy registry that allows participation in a technology neutral fashion accessible to both new facilities and established facilities helps clean energy fetch a higher price than dirty energy. It is an important incentive for companies and outside investors to direct their money to systems that reduce emissions and fossil fuel dependence.

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Clean Energy, Economics, Investing

A Path from Coal to Nuclear is Being Blazed in Wyoming

August 12, 2021 By Valerie Gardner 37 Comments



Many of those who care about finding solutions to the physical distress that our climate is experiencing, as reported on this week in a landmark 1,300 page report by the IPCC‘s Sixth Assessment Working Group 1 (Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis), are not looking at Wyoming.

But based upon the announcement made in early June by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, together with senior Senator John Barrasso, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, TerraPower founder and Chairman, Bill Gates, President and CEO of Rocky Mountain Power Gary Hoogevene and others, maybe they should.

In a well-orchestrated 30-minute event, Wyoming’s political leadership, while making no bones about their total support for coal, announced that Bill Gates’ advanced nuclear venture, TerraPower, had selected Wyoming and a yet-to-be-determined retiring Rocky Mountain Power coal plant, as the site to build and operate the first sodium-cooled advanced Natrium™ reactor, with matching funding from the DOE’s ARDP program.

Aside: Several times during the presentation, a speaker mentioned their interest in carbon capture and sequestration. Many of the technologies being pursued for that capability require nearly continuous clean power in massive quantities. Nuclear plants are the leading source for that kind of power. End Aside

The Governor’s plan to test the conversion of coal plants to new nuclear is being supported with a combination of private and federal funding as well as advance work by Wyoming’s legislature, which passed HB 74 with overwhelming bipartisan support, allowing utilities and other power plant owners to replace retiring coal and natural gas electric generation plants with small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). The bill was signed by the Governor immediately and is now House Enrolled Act 60.

Wyoming will see the development of a first-of-a-kind advanced nuclear power plant that validates the design, construction and operational features of the Natrium technology and enables Wyoming, which currently leads the country in coal exports, to get a lead in the form of energy best suited to replace coal—built right at coal plants, potentially around the world. This conversion path not only reuses some of the physical infrastructure at the coal plant but also takes advantage of the skilled people and supporting community that have been operating that plant.

In December, 2020, Staffan Qvist, Paweł Gładysz, Łukasz Bartela and Anna Sowizdzał published a study that looked at the issue of retrofitting coal power plants for decarbonization in Poland.  They published their findings in Retrofit Decarbonization of Coal Power Plants—a Case Study for Poland, showing that decarbonization retrofits worked best using high-temperature small modular reactor to replace coal boilers.

What makes this announcement truly “game-changing and monumental” in the Governor’s own words, is just how cost-effective and efficient converting a coal plant to advanced nuclear might be. According to the Polish study, retrofitting coal boilers with high-temperature small modular nuclear reactors as a way to decarbonize the plant can lower upfront capital costs by as much as 35% and reduce the levelized cost of electricity by as much as 28% when compared to a greenfield installation.

The analysis looked at the potential within a coal retrofit of re-using the existing assets that are already there. While there will be large differences across plants as to the effective age and useful life condition of major plant components, the study found that “compared to very early retirement, re-using non-coal-related auxiliary buildings and electrical equipment, turbogenerators, cooling water systems, cooling towers, and pumphouses can thus avoid the stranding of up to 40% of the initial investment at a new coal plant.” (See Qvist p. 7)



Additionally, converting to nuclear can maintain the level of energy output from the plant and even exceed it, while eliminating emissions. In contrast, annual output replacement would not be possible using other clean energy options such as biomass, wind, solar or geothermal. (See Qvist p. 11)


In October, 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), awarded TerraPower $80 million in initial funding from the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to demonstrate the Natrium reactor and energy system with its technology co-developer GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and engineering and construction partner Bechtel. The award will provide TerraPower and its partners with up to $1.6 billion in federal funding during the project to build the reactor, to be operational within five to seven years. TerraPower is also partnering with PacifiCorp and Rocky Mountain Power, subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Energy Northwest and Duke Energy, which will also provide expertise in the areas of licensing, operations, maintenance, siting and grid needs.

Currently, the DOE is funding a number of promising reactor development projects and President Biden’s recently passed Infrastructure Bill appears to have increased those budget allocations. That is very good news for the climate. According to the Qvist study, some 1,300 GW of coal power units globally could be suitable for retrofitting with advanced nuclear reactors by the 2030s. If large-scale retrofitting were to be implemented starting then, up to 200 billion tons of CO2 emission could be avoided, which equates to nearly six years of total global CO2 emissions, and “would make the prospects of reaching global climate targets far more realistic.” (Qvist p. 33)

For those of us anxiously logging milestones along the way towards our future 100% clean grid, TerraPower’s decision to site its new plant in Wyoming and Wyoming’s embrace of this opportunity—where not that long ago the legislature reacted with an “‘unheard of’ IRP investigation” to push back on PacifiCorp’s 2020 IRP showing the retirement of 20 of 24 coal plants—is remarkable. It is definitely worthwhile keeping an eye on Wyoming, where some entirely miraculous brew of audacious political leadership, climate-fueled economic anxiety and job-seeking technological brinkmanship appears to have paved the way for Wyoming to become a birthplace of 21 century clean energy. As Governor Gordon said, this is truly “game-changing and monumental” news—not just for Wyoming but also for the world. You can view the full announcement below.

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Another Blogger for Nuclear Energy, Atomic Entrepreneurs, Atomic history, Atomic politics, Clean Energy, Climate change, Coal, decarbonization, Fossil fuel cooperation, Innovation, New Nuclear, Pro Nuclear Video, Smaller reactors Tagged With: Bill Gates, Gary Hoogeveen, GE Hitachi, Governor Mark Gordon, IPCC, Jennifer Graholm, physical sciences basis, Senator John Barrasso, TerraPower, Wyoming

Atomic Show #290 – Myrto Tripathi, Voices of Nuclear

February 9, 2021 By Rod Adams

Nuclear energy professionals are credible sources of information about a powerful technology that can help address climate change and contribute to humanity’s development. Voices of Nuclear is an international non-profit group that seeks to empower nuclear supporters, both professionals in the industry and allies outside of the industry, with tools, organization and effective messages. Myrto […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, International nuclear, Podcast, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Atomic Show #289 – All Reactors Large and Small

January 29, 2021 By Rod Adams 16 Comments

Pro-nuclear advocates generally agree that there is a large and growing need for new nuclear power plants to meet energy demands with less impact on the planet and its atmosphere. There is frequent, sometimes passionate discussion about the most appropriate reactor sizes, technologies and specific uses. Atomic Show #289 is a lively discussion among some […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Economics, New Nuclear, Podcast

Open Letter to Interim Storage Partners and Holtec – please find better locations for your CISF projects ASAP

November 7, 2020 By Rod Adams 21 Comments

Dear Holtec and Interim Storage Partners: Both of you are actively pursuing permission from the US Nuclear Regulatory to build consolidated interim storage facilities in an area of southwest Texas and southeast New Mexico that seemed well suited for the purpose at the time that you began the process. Times have changed since then. One […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Fossil fuel competition, Nuclear Waste

Atomic Show #277 – Simon Wakter, pro-nuclear engineer in an ambivalent country

May 30, 2020 By Rod Adams 1 Comment

Simon Wakter is a strongly pro-nuclear engineer in a country that passed a referendum officially phasing out nuclear energy since several years before he was born. He has to round up to be called a thirty-something. Simon works in the nuclear energy branch of AFRY, a well-established 17,000 employee, all-of-the-above. engineering company that recently adopted […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Atomic history, Atomic politics, Podcast, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Smaller reactors

Project Dilithium – Boldly going back to a place our ancestors visited and prematurely abandoned

March 11, 2019 By Rod Adams 40 Comments

In January 2019, the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) of the U.S. Department of Defense officially informed the world that it was interested in learning more about small, mobile, nuclear generators. The SCO said it wanted to find out if there was technology available that could supply a forward operating base with abundant, emission-free electricity for […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Advanced Atomic Technologies, Army Nuclear Program, Atomic politics, Smaller reactors

Atomic Show #264 – Building momentum in advanced nuclear energy

January 28, 2019 By Rod Adams 7 Comments

It’s not glaringly obvious, but preparatory steps enabling a take off for advanced nuclear power systems are making measurable progress. Enabling legislative acts have been passed by both the Senate and House and signed by the President, turning them into laws requiring actions. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is back to full strength and under a […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Atomic politics, Clean Energy, Climate change, Podcast

Documentary evidence that fossil fuel industry knew–by 1948–that it faced prospect that atomic energy would make it obsolete

August 26, 2018 By Rod Adams 3 Comments

No industry cheerfully accepts the prospect that a newly developed technology could make it obsolete. Executives and investors earn much of their wealth by constantly evaluating potential threats to their business. They invest time, energy and resources in conceiving and implementing response or prevention plans. “Inside the Atom” is a 1948 vintage snapshot of the […]

Filed Under: H. J. Muller, Atomic history, Atomic politics, Health Effects

Why can’t existing nuclear plants make money in today’s electricity markets?

July 25, 2018 By Rod Adams 42 Comments

What does it mean when nuclear plant owners tell people that their plants are struggling to make money in competitive markets as currently structured? They are attempting to more precisely state what is often misleadingly dismissed by journalists as “nuclear plants cannot compete.” The more commonly used statement gives the impression that nuclear plants produce […]

Filed Under: Alternative energy, Atomic politics, Economics

“Waste issue” continues to be part of antinuclear movement strategy of constipation

May 4, 2018 By Rod Adams 43 Comments

(Reprint. Originally published September 17, 2013. During the 4.5 years since the original appeared, the licensing moratorium mentioned has been lifted, and the confidence rule has been replaced by Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel [NRC–2012–0246] but stubborn opposition arises in response to any proposed solutions.) During the 1970s, the antinuclear movement made a collective […]

Filed Under: Nuclear Waste, Atomic politics

I apologize for falling for a dirty trick that might have been planted by an oil and gas lobbyist

March 29, 2018 By Rod Adams 7 Comments

Though I take some pride in my critical reading skills and resistance to getting snookered by scam stories, I fell for a doozy yesterday. Unfortunately, I ended up propagating what might have been a clever ruse designed to paint nuclear energy advocacy in a bad light. It’s a story worth telling after I apologize profusely […]

Filed Under: Atomic Advocacy, Atomic politics, Fossil fuel competition

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