SoCalGas contributed approximately
$650,000 to the $3.2 million project, which has received funding
from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support innovative
carbon removal technologies to help enable a carbon neutral
future.
LOS
ANGELES, Nov. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Company (SoCalGas) announced today that after nearly
two years of development, an innovative carbon removal technology
called Hybrid Direct Air Capture (HDAC) is being brought online in
Bakersfield, CA. This technology
is being developed by Los Angeles
based startup Avnos, Inc., with a pilot project to demonstrate how
the technology removes carbon dioxide from the air and generates
water using only electricity. SoCalGas is also partnering with
Avnos, Inc. on a larger pilot project designed to demonstrate how
this technology could be scaled up 1,000% from its current
iteration.
"The ability to scale carbon management projects while advancing
the underlying technologies could be critical to achieving the
state's ambitious goal of sequestering 100 million metric tons of
CO2 by 2045," says Neil
Navin, Chief Clean Fuels Officer at SoCalGas. "Carbon
management, if developed at scale, could help reduce carbon
emissions, improve air quality, and represents a tremendous
opportunity for economic development and the creation of
high-quality jobs."
The technology was conceived at Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL) and is a hybrid form of Direct Air Capture (DAC)
technology designed to simultaneously capture CO2 and water from
the air. The two-stage system removes water vapor and then captures
CO2 from the dry air stream. It then compresses the CO2, allowing
for transport, storage, or utilization, and condenses the water
vapor into liquid water for reuse.
"Avnos is proud to be at the forefront of this transformative
journey, offering potentially scalable solutions that could play a
vital role in addressing the pressing challenges of our time," said
Will Kain, CEO of Avnos. "SoCalGas
has been a tremendous partner and this collaborative milestone is a
testament to our commitment to innovation and shared vision for a
sustainable, carbon-neutral future. As we witness the utilization
of HDAC, we believe it's a significant step towards achieving our
ambitious goals for carbon management."
Reports from the California Air Resource Board's 2022 Scoping
Plan to the International Panel on Climate Change underscore that
carbon management could be a critical pathway to decarbonization.
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Carbon Management Pathways to
Commercial Liftoff models project that reaching the country's clean
energy transition goals would require capturing and storing 400
million to 1.8 billion tonnes of CO2 annually by 2050.
Carbon management, along with other cleaner energy tools such as
clean hydrogen and renewable natural gas, is a key component to the
suite of tools SoCalGas has been developing in support of its
overall strategy to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by
2045.
For more information about SoCalGas's carbon management efforts,
visit http://www.socalgas.com/carboncapture
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles,
SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in
the United States. SoCalGas
delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas
service to over 21 million consumers across 24,000 square
miles of Central and Southern
California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines
will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition—providing
electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy
deployment.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most
innovative energy infrastructure company in America. In support of
that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas
emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to
replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core
customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable
natural gas is made from waste created by landfills and wastewater
treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its
gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for
customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an
energy infrastructure company based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect
with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas),
Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about the
future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees.
Future results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking
statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the
date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
In this press release, forward-looking statements can be
identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "intend,"
"anticipate," "contemplate," "plan," "estimate," "project,"
"forecast," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may,"
"can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process,"
"construct," "develop," "opportunity," "initiative," "target,"
"outlook," "optimistic," "poised," "maintain," "continue,"
"progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar
expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy,
goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or
expectations.
Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and
events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any
forward-looking statement include: decisions, investigations,
inquiries, regulations, denials or revocations of permits,
consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of
franchises, and other actions by the (i) California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy,
U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other governmental and regulatory
bodies and (ii) U.S. and states, counties, cities and other
jurisdictions therein where we do business; the success of business
development efforts and construction projects, including risks in
(i) completing construction projects or other transactions on
schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any
of these efforts if completed, and (iii) obtaining third-party
consents and approvals; macroeconomic trends or other factors that
could change our capital expenditure plans and their potential
impact on rate base or other growth; litigation, arbitrations and
other proceedings, and changes to laws and regulations, including
those related to tax and trade policy; cybersecurity threats,
including by state and state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or
other attacks on our systems or the systems of third parties with
which we conduct business, including the energy grid or other
energy infrastructure, all of which continue to become more
pronounced; the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of
capital resources and our ability to borrow money on favorable
terms and meet our obligations, including due to (i) actions by
credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place
those ratings on negative outlook, (ii) instability in the capital
markets, or (iii) rising interest rates and inflation; failure of
our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; the
impact on affordability of our customer rates and our cost of
capital and on our ability to pass through higher costs to
customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and
commodity prices and (ii) the cost of the clean energy transition
in California; the impact of
climate and sustainability policies, laws, rules, regulations,
disclosures and trends, including actions to reduce or eliminate
reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or
regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies,
the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and our ability to
incorporate new technologies; weather, natural disasters,
pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism,
information system outages or other events that disrupt our
operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of
harmful materials or fires or subject us to liability for damages,
fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through
regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may impact our ability to
obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the
availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity,
including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline system or
limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage
facilities; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to
predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the
reports that the company has filed with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are
available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on
the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's
website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on
any forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra
Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC
(Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de
C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as
the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric
Company or Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra
Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas,
Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not
regulated by the CPUC.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company