An examination of regulatory and market development challenges for CCUS through a case study of Duke Energy’s Edwardsport Energy Center.
What’s the issue?
A net-zero carbon goal, including the Biden administration’s goal of achieving a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050, is an acknowledgement that zero carbon emissions is not possible. Therefore, a key component of such net-zero goals is a method for capturing and permanently storing carbon that is produced in various sectors of the economy.
Why does it matter?
The idea of capturing and storing carbon has been around since at least the early 2000s, but it has never been widely deployed here and the problems appear to be both financial and regulatory.
What’s our view?
The Inflation Reduction Act had incentives to overcome the financial aspects of the problem, although it remains to be seen whether they are enough. Solving the regulatory issues, however, may be more difficult and the solution may be to leave it to the states rather than making it a federal issue.
Unlike natural gas, which typically needs to move across state lines, most of the transport projects appear to be limited in reach and so the industry may want to focus on keeping or transferring to the states control over all aspects of the industry, other than safety, which is already under PHMSA control.
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