Southern Company sponsors Low-Carbon Resources Initiative
Southern Company is sponsoring a new low-carbon joint venture launched this week called the Low-Carbon Resources Initiative (LCRI).
The initiative, a joint venture between the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Gas Technology Institute (GTI), is an international collaboration spanning the electric and gas sectors to advance economy-wide deep decarbonization. Specifically, the goal of the five-year initiative is to accelerate the development and demonstration of low-carbon energy technologies. The LCRI is targeting low-carbon electric generation technologies and low-carbon energy carriers, such as hydrogen, renewable natural gas, and bioenergy.
“Decarbonization is a major focus of Southern Company’s research strategy, and the LCRI will serve as a valuable tool in our efforts,” Dr. Mark S. Berry, Southern Company vice president of research and development (R&D), said. “Delivering a decarbonized future will require an influx of advanced technologies, so it’s essential that we leverage collaboration to find and advance those next-generation and transformational solutions.”
Southern Company is one of 18 anchor sponsors.
The initiative is seeded with $10 million from the EPRI-GTI collaborative. Funding for LCRI is expected to be leveraged many times over its $100 million target through public and private collaboration.
In May, Southern Company committed to an enterprise-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal across all electric and gas operations of net-zero emissions by 2050. Its intermediate goal is a 50 percent reduction of GHG emissions by 2030. The company is on pace to surpass that reduction goal well in advance of 2030, possibly by 2025.
