Energy Cast podcast: Talking carbon capture future with NCCC

09.11.2020

Energy Cast is a regular podcast featuring some of the top experts across all links in the industry chain. Those include coal, nuclear, efficiency, renewables, oil and gas, as well as top government researchers. Longtime project manager Jay Dauenhauer created it and has been hosting Energy Cast for several years. Click here to see the episode: The future of carbon

Energy Cast is a regular podcast featuring some of the top experts across all links in the industry chain. Those include coal, nuclear, efficiency, renewables, oil and gas, as well as top government researchers. Longtime project manager Jay Dauenhauer created it and has been hosting Energy Cast for several years.

Click here to see the episode:

The future of carbon capture technologies is an international issue.

The National Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville, Alabama, is primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, with contributions from host operator Southern Co. and testing partners. But the NCCC, while concerned with keeping American coal-fired generation environmentally and economically viable, is open to others in the world who want to sustain thermal generation.

“We’re very active from the standpoint of international technology developers,” John Northington, director of the NCCC, told Energy Cast podcast host Jay Dauenhauer in the latest episode of the series. “At this point and time we’ve already worked with about 30 government, university and research organizations spanning across seven other countries. We expect that to grow over time.”

Read more about carbon capture in Power Engineering

Coal-fired power in the U.S. has fallen from more than 40 percent of the generation capacity mix to near 20 percent in the recent years. More than 500 coal-fired plants have been retired or due for retirement due to regulatory, operational and competitive generation costs.

This trend is much the same in the rest of developed world. In other developing markets such as Asia, however, coal-fired power plants are still being planned and built.

So the race to capture flue gas, utilize it cleanly or sequester it underground is on. The NCCC is situated next to a coal-fired power plant in Alabama and also has expanded its research aim to include gas-fired emissions. (This podcast originally aired in August 2020.)

Listen to the Energy Cast podcast here

Dauenhauer himself was previously executive director of the Clean Coal Technology Association in Texas. He also has worked as project director in power generation and transmission as well as a media analyst for TXU Energy prior to the $45 billion leveraged buyout of that company in 2007. A Louisiana native and proud graduate of Louisiana State University, his career began as a TV news producer before transitioning into the energy sector. Back behind the mic, Dauenhauer hopes to bring his experience working across several energy sectors to you in a program designed to be accessible to both the public and industry insiders. Dauenhauer also is a member of the POWERGEN International and DISTRIBUTECH International advisory committees. Clarion Energy is the parent company of Power Engineering, POWERGEN, DISTRIBUTECH.

Energy Cast Podcast is hosted biweekly by Jay Dauenhauer. Learn more about the podcast here.

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