New DOE boss Chris Wright lays down a marker
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New Energy Secretary Chris Wright is providing the first looks at his agenda and style since winning Senate confirmation — and leaving big funding questions unanswered.
State of play: The fracking exec who also backs clean-tech companies addressed the agency Wednesday and issued a memo outlining priorities. Specifics in the memo include:
- A "comprehensive review" of DOE's appliance efficiency standards program to ensure it "does not regulate products that consumers value out of the market."
- Refilling the SPR; a return to "regular order" on LNG approvals; a renewed focus on growing "baseload and dispatchable" generation; and faster permitting.
A few high-level takeaways...
Climate is shoved in the backseat...The memo's call for "energy addition, not subtraction" bashes "net zero" policies, alleging they raise costs and undermine reliability and security.
...but it's still in the car. Wright, contra Trump, called climate change a "very real thing" onstage.
- But the remarks made clear he sees access — from fossil fuels or otherwise — for people worldwide facing energy poverty as far more important.
- Affordability is also key domestically, he said, noting around 10% of Americans have gotten a utility disconnection notice in the last year.
- He argued climate change has gotten "politicized" and "not really about the math anymore." (His views on climate risk contradict many scientists.)
Money mysteries remain. Wright didn't get into how he'll approach Biden-era grant and loan finance for commercial deployment that's now in limbo.
He seems more psyched about some sources than others. The memo says DOE's R&D should prioritize sources including "fossil fuels, advanced nuclear, geothermal, and hydropower."
- Onstage, meanwhile, he criticized Germany's wind and solar deployment in an extended riff about its energy policies, saying they're expensive and sapping its industrial competitiveness.
Wright's very keen on nuclear for industrial energy. He noted that currently, all U.S. nuclear feeds power grids.
- While that's "awesome," he talked up nuclear's potential as a process heat source for heavy industries. The memo is also pro-nuclear overall.
- "You can't build a plane or a train or an automobile or an internet or an electrical grid without metals and materials," he said onstage.
- It's a reminder that supplying heavy industry is a prospective area for small modular reactors. Wright resigned his seat on nuclear startup Oklo's board as a result of his confirmation.
He went for a chill vibe. Wright had a casual, chatty demeanor onstage, at one point joking, "I took the tie off so that my mom would recognize me."
