seeing green

AT&T makes deal with Oxy for carbon credits

Here's 1PoinFive's newest customer on its Texas CCUS project. Photo via 1pointfive.com

Telecommunications giant AT&T has agreed to purchase carbon removal credits from 1PointFive, the carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) subsidiary of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum.

Financial details weren’t disclosed.

The carbon credits will be tied to STRATOS, 1PointFive’s first large-scale direct air capture (DAC) facility. The billion-dollar project is being built near Odessa.

“AT&T’s carbon removal credit purchase is another proof point of the vital role that [DAC] can play in providing a high-integrity and durable solution to help organizations address their emissions,” Michael Avery, president and general manager of 1PointFive, says in a news release.

The AT&T deal comes just one month after 1PointFive announced a similar agreement with Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation, which specializes in industrial automation and digital transformation.

In November, Occidental announced that New York City-based investment manager BlackRock was chipping in $550 million as part of a joint venture to build STRATOS. The project, set to be completed in 2025, is designed to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon emissions once it’s fully online.

Under 1PointFive’s deal with Dallas-based AT&T, CO2 underpinning the removal credits will be sucked out of the air and stored in underground salt-water formations.

In conjunction with the DAC deal, 1PointFive has joined AT&T’s Connected Climate Initiative, an effort aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by one gigaton by 2035.

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A View From HETI

MetOx has named where its new facility will be going. Photo via metoxtech.com

Houston-based manufacturer of high-temperature superconducting wires MetOx International Inc. will build a major production facility in Chatham County, North Carolina, which is expected to create 333 jobs, and invest $193.7 million in the state.

MetOx is a leader in High Temperature Superconducting technology (HTS), which is an advanced power delivery technology that is capable of transmitting extremely high power at low voltage with zero heat generation or energy loss. The technology is assisting in the energy sectors like power transmission, distribution, and grid expansion.

“Establishing our new large-scale manufacturing facility in Chatham County is a pivotal step toward securing a reliable, domestic supply of HTS wire for the development of critical infrastructure in the United States,” Bud Vos, CEO of MetOx, says in a news release. “This facility will not only deliver transformative energy technologies that strengthen our grid and reduce carbon emissions but also create high-paying manufacturing jobs in a community eager to lead in innovation. We are proud to partner with North Carolina to drive forward a resilient energy future built on cutting-edge science and strong local collaboration.”

The new facility is funded in part by an $80 million investment from the United States Department of Energy, which the company announced in October. In September, the company closed $25 million in a series B extension round.

MetOx also announced last month that received an undisclosed investment from Hawaii-based Elemental Impact, which is a leading climate-focused investment platform. As a national implementation partner for the EPA's $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Elemental Impact has received $100 million to deploy later-stage commercialized technologies according to the company.

The funding is expected to advance the expansion of MetOx’s Houston production line and the deployment of its HTS wire, which can make transmission cables up to ten times more efficient than traditional copper cables and will be used at the North Carolina facility.

“Building domestic manufacturing capacity for critical grid technologies is essential for America’s energy future," Danya Hakeem, vice president of Portfolio at Elemental Impact, says in a news release. “MetOx’s expansion in Houston demonstrates how we can simultaneously advance grid modernization and create quality manufacturing jobs. Their technology represents exactly the kind of innovation needed to unlock the next wave of clean energy deployment.”

The project in North Carolina will be facilitated with a Job Development Investment Grant formally awarded to a new company being created by MetOx. In the 12-year term of the grant, economists in the Department of Commerce estimated the project will grow North Carolina’s economy by $987.8 million.

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