The world’s industrial complex must nurture practical solutions for decarbonization, take learnings from successful projects and apply them more widely, according to the head of green solutions at one of Japan’s leading heavy industries solutions providers.
In an interview, on the sidelines of CERAWeek, a major energy conference in Houston, U.S., held by S&P Global, Hitoshi Kaguchi, senior EVP, president and CEO of GX solutions, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group, said: “The industrial world has a major challenge of lowering carbon emissions, especially in hard-to-abate segments.
“Only supporting decarbonization ventures and extrapolating the lessons from successful ventures to apply elsewhere will set us on the right path. That is certainly our philosophy.”
The team Kaguchi leads is pivotal for supplying MHI Group’s energy transition solutions, including hydrogen, ammonia, carbon capture, transportation and a whole host of other green segments.
But for now, the group’s transition solutions focus is on carbon capture to the end of current decade, with hydrogen next in order of priority.
When it comes to learnings from both these transition segments, Kaguchi highlights two projects MHI Group is involved in. Both happen to be in the U.S.
The first being the Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project, considered the largest post combustion carbon capture project in the world located on a coal fired power plant in Thompsons, Texas.
It started commercial operations in December 2016. According to MHI Group, it captures 4,776 tons of CO2 per day from coal-fired power generation plant, which contains a high concentration of CO2 in its flue gas, with a CO2 capture rate of 90%.
The second, which is due to start operation this year, is the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Power Americas and Magnum Development, with a $504.4 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
It aims to be a state-of-the-art green hydrogen hub and storage facility that would be the largest of its kind producing, storing, and delivering green hydrogen to Western US.
Both projects contribute to the learning and thinking at MHI Group, Kaguchi noted. “They also give us belief that what we are planning as a company is for the long-term, for perhaps a 40-year horizon, not the cyclical short-term. We see huge opportunities in the decarbonization segment or market if people choose to describe it as such, from investing in the cleantech startup ecosystem to large scale projects.”
However, the senior Japanese industry executive with over 30 years of experience, is pragmatic enough to recognize the marginally changed operating environment for sustainable solutions.
“In 2018, we first noticed calls for sustainability solutions gaining momentum. During the Covid-19 pandemic such calls grew louder, and investment grew exponentially. However, I would say from 2023, we witnessed a plateau or perhaps a market normalization.
“Every business segment goes through this – the market for sustainable solutions is no exception. We remain firm believers when it comes to decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors and I suspect so do our competitors in the heavy industrial solutions space.
“It is why MHI Group will maintain its headline research and development spending, investment and work on decarbonization solutions. Our careful approach and desire for green investments and partnerships hasn’t materially altered.”
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