Climate Roundup: CEC Staff Calls for End to Hydrogen Energy Licensing

The staff of the California Energy Commission recommends that the committee in charge of the project certification terminate the licensing process for what would be California’s first coal-fueled power plant equipped with carbon capture and sequestration technology.

The recommendation came in the form of a motion as the Energy Commission committee weighs whether to renew the licensing process for Hydrogen Energy California, which was suspended for six months last year. The suspension period is due to end this month so a final decision should be coming soon.

Staff said in its motion that the company has made insufficient progress in lining up a place to permanently store the captured carbon after a sequestration deal with nearby Occidental Petroleum in Kern County fell through.

The plant initially was proposed in 2008.

Staff concluded that not only has the company not been able to supply enough information on how it would sequester carbon dioxide from the plant, but also “cannot meet the requirements for the foreseeable future, which causes the duration of the Hydrogen Energy California proceeding to be indefinite.”

The proposed plant would provide 288 MW of power to the grid, plus make fertilizer.

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The California Air Resources Board scheduled its first carbon emissions rights auction of 2016 under the state’s cap-and-trade program. It set the auction for Feb. 17.

The agency plans to auction off 71,555,827 vintage 2016 allowances, which can be used in the current compliance period. In addition, it plans to auction off 10,078,750 vintage 2019 allowances for future compliance needs. Each allowance conveys the right to emit a ton of carbon dioxide.

Air regulators set the minimum bid price at $12.73 for all of the allowances.

February’s auction will mark the sixth joint auction with the Canadian province of Quebec, which has a similar carbon cap-and-trade program.

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In a move that potentially could broaden participation in California and Quebec’s carbon market, the state of Washington’s Department of Ecology proposed capping carbon emissions from power plants and other major industrial facilities and letting them trade emissions rights.

The proposed rule would require all facilities emitting more than 100,000 tons or more of greenhouse gases to cut their emissions 5 percent every three years. Reductions would continue through 2050 when emissions levels would be trimmed 50 percent below their 1990 level.

“Cities and counties across our state are taking action now to protect their transportation systems, water supplies and homes from climate change damage,” said Sarah Rees, climate change policy lead for the department. “Now’s the time for the state to do its part.” —William J. Kelly