The deputy energy secretary is jetting off to Denmark to ensure nuclear power is included in international clean energy talks, while starting a new global effort with Japan and Canada to do just that.
“If the world is serious about reducing emissions and growing economies, then the ministerial must consider all options when it comes to carbon-free power, including clean, reliable nuclear energy,” Dan Brouillette said Monday in a blog.
Brouillette will attend the ninth annual Clean Energy Ministerial, May 23-24, to promote the use of nuclear energy as many European countries look to renewable energy to meet their obligations under the Paris climate change deal.
However, convincing some countries that nuclear is a clean energy resource has been a challenge for the Trump administration, he wrote.
“Frequently the definition of ‘clean energy,’ as Secretary Rick Perry pointed out last year, does not include nuclear energy — the world’s second largest source of low-carbon electricity, following only behind hydropower,” he wrote.
To push nuclear energy, Brouillette said the U.S., Canada, and Japan are starting a new effort called the “Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy (NICE) Future initiative.”
The effort will ensure that nuclear energy “has a seat at the table during discussions about innovation and advanced clean energy systems of the future,” he said.
Perry is not attending the conference. It would be the first year since the ministerial was formed in 2009 that a U.S. energy secretary would not attend, according to E&E News. The Energy Department did not respond to a question on why Perry would not be attending this year.
But Perry has many issues on his plate that could be taking precedence over traveling to Copenhagan, such as the Trump administration’s trade negotiations with the Chinese. The White House said Saturday that the two countries reached an agreement for China to increase its purchases of U.S. products, including energy exports.
Perry has been promoting natural gas and coal exports under Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda, which looks to increase exports while increasing production of energy at home. Perry also has been looking for inroads in India to increase sharing the development of carbon capture technologies that can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from coal and other fossil fuels.
The Energy Department is also supporting renewable energy through funding of wind, solar, and energy storage research projects. Perry also is considering a petition by the Ohio-based utility FirstEnergy to use specialized authority under the law to keep the company’s financially struggling coal and nuclear plants from shutting down.
