Good Morning. This is the Sunya Scoop. The newsletter that takes energy transition news and turns it into an easy-to-read email for you.
Here’s what we have for you today:
Carbonfuture to supply Microsoft with biochar carbon removal credits
Neste spending $2.75 billion to convert oil refinery to biofuels production
Lilac and Lake complete lithium extraction demo project in Argentina
Oklo teams up with Siemens Energy for steam turbine and generator tech
The almost headlines
Chart of the week
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released draft Class VI well permits for underground carbon dioxide (CO2) injection and storage.
California Resources Corporation (CRC) and its carbon management business, Carbon TerraVault (CTV), are involved in this milestone.
The permits are for CTV’s 26-R reservoir within the CTV I carbon capture and storage (CCS) vault at the Elk Hills Field in Kern County, California.
These are California’s first draft permits for underground CO2 sequestration and the first to utilize a depleted oil and natural gas field in the U.S.
It represents a significant step toward achieving California’s climate goals and carbon neutrality.
The 26-R reservoir is expected to have an injection rate of 1.46 million metric tons (MT) per annum and a total estimated capacity of up to 38 million MT.
CTV I, including Elk Hills, has a total estimated storage capacity of up to 46 million MT.
The Elk Hills Field is considered a premier CO2 sequestration site with significant storage potential.
CTV is collaborating with clean technology companies to develop greenfield projects at Elk Hills, creating new jobs in clean energy industries.
The draft EPA permits are open for public review and comment for the next 90 days.
Canada signed its first deal to support carbon credit prices.
Canada Growth Fund (CGF) will invest $150 million in carbon capture and storage developer Entropy Inc, a unit of Advantage Energy.
The 15-year deal allows CGF to buy up to 1 million tonnes of carbon credits annually from Entropy.
Initially, CGF will purchase 185,000 metric tons of carbon credits per year at $86.50 per ton.
This move is crucial for reducing emissions from Alberta’s oil sands without reducing production.
Entropy had previously signed a $300 million deal with Brookfield Renewable.
Canada is working to provide carbon price certainty for carbon capture and storage projects.
The CGF was set up to attract private investment in clean tech and mitigate financing risks.
Kimmeridge-backed Chestnut Carbon has entered a multi-year offtake agreement with Microsoft for high-quality carbon removal credits.
Chestnut will remove 362,000 tons of carbon in Phase I of the largest U.S. Gold Standard-registered afforestation project.
The project is a testament to the scalability of nature-based solutions.
The offtake agreement covers 15 years and may result in up to 2.7 million tons of carbon removal in subsequent phases.
Chestnut focuses on positive impact, verifiability, and execution, aligning with Microsoft’s criteria for high-quality carbon removal.
Chestnut plans to grow its capacity to 500,000 acres and 100 million tons of carbon removal to meet increasing demand.
Key features of Chestnut’s Sustainable Restoration Project include additional, verified, and certified carbon credits, long-term land conservation, biodiversity planting, and stakeholder benefits.
Carbonfuture has signed an offtake agreement with Microsoft to supply biochar carbon removal (BCR) credits.
The credits will come from the Exomad Green Concepción project in Bolivia.
The project aims to deliver over 32,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide removal credits to Microsoft by June 2024, contributing to Microsoft’s carbon-negative sustainability goal.
The collaboration validates BCR as a promising technology for meeting corporate sustainability goals.
Exomad Green’s project in Concepción, Bolivia, transforms forestry waste into biochar, reducing health and fire risks from open burning and mitigating deforestation.
The project also supports farming practices in indigenous communities by providing biochar for agriculture, improving soil fertility.
Carbonfuture’s MRV+ process ensures transparent tracking of biochar carbon removal, complying with the Puro Standard, a leading carbon removal standard.
Neste, a Finnish refiner, plans to invest €2.5 billion (~$2.74 billion) to convert its Porvoo crude oil refinery into a biofuels production facility.
This move is part of Neste’s long-term strategy to exit fossil fuel production and focus on renewable and circular economy solutions.
Neste has been rapidly growing by producing renewable fuels from waste and residue to help industries and transport operators reduce emissions.
The company aims to create a global production capacity for renewable and circular economy solutions, targeting up to three million tons.
The conversion of the Porvoo refinery is expected to be completed by the mid-2030s.
Neste plans to increase its total renewables production capacity to 9.3 million metric tons by this time, with 1.5 million tons dedicated to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported a significant increase in global SAF volumes in 2023 and called for more investments.
Neste is also expanding SAF production in its Singapore refinery and will start SAF production in its Rotterdam refinery in early 2024.
These changes will result in a decrease in the annual output of the Porvoo refinery, but Neste anticipates that it won’t affect its cashflow due to the shift in demand from fossil fuels to renewables.
Lilac Solutions has successfully completed the Kachi Demonstration Plant, in collaboration with Lake Resources, specializing in lithium extraction technology.
The plant achieved all technical and operational targets, including high lithium recovery and minimal water usage.
The Kachi Project, located in Argentina’s Catamarca province, utilizes Lilac’s ion exchange (IX) technology for lithium extraction.
Lilac Solutions has earned a 20 percent equity stake in the Kachi Project and is on track to increase it to 25 percent.
Key achievements include high-performance Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE), environmentally sustainable processes, scalability, and third-party validation.
The technology eliminates the need for evaporation ponds and reduces freshwater usage significantly.
The demonstration plant has processed over 5.2 million liters of brine and produced over 200,000 liters of concentrated LiCl product.
Battery-grade lithium carbonate can be easily produced from the LiCl concentrate.
Long-term ion exchange studies using Kachi brine have demonstrated continuous lithium production for over 12 months and over 2,000 cycles.
Oklo Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Siemens Energy.
Siemens Energy would become Oklo’s preferred supplier for steam turbines and generator technology for the Aurora powerhouse.
Siemens Energy would also provide consulting to optimize the integration of power conversion systems.
This partnership aims to develop the capability for scale-up of Aurora powerhouse deployments.
Oklo focuses on providing clean, reliable, and affordable power through fast fission reactors.
Adapture Renewables and Meta have signed three Environmental Attributes Purchase Agreements (EAPAs) for 330 MW of renewable energy.
The agreements involve three solar projects under development in Illinois and Arkansas.
The partnership with Adapture Renewables will help Meta achieve net-zero emissions across its global operations.
The three projects will have an estimated net economic impact exceeding $400 million.
Meta aims to support its facilities with 100% renewable energy.
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