Today marks the official launch of Elimini, a new Houston-based business dedicated to generating renewable, 24/7 power while permanently removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
It’s a critical time to be joining the ranks of Texas-headquartered energy companies. The global power consumption projected for datacenters underpinning modern technologies – like artificial intelligence and blockchain – is set to soar far beyond anything we’ve ever seen. At the same time, carbon emissions are warming our planet and can trigger bigger and more frequent storms, like the hurricanes that have hammered the Gulf Coast this year.
Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is the only technology that can currently generate renewable power while simultaneously locking carbon emissions away permanently. By advancing BECCS in the United States and beyond, Elimini will help meet this tsunami of demand for both 24/7 renewable energy and high-integrity carbon removals.
Building on Texas’ energy legacy by growing BECCS globally
From the very beginning, Texas has leveraged its natural resources to its advantage – particularly when it comes to leading energy production at global scale. Some believe Texas is synonymous with oil and gas production, but the state hasn’t stopped there: nearly 30 percent of Texas’ electricity came from renewables in 2023, and it led the United States in utility-scale wind-powered electricity generation for the year.
BECCS represents a compelling opportunity to expand on that legacy by using another renewable, natural resource – sustainably managed forests – to power communities and businesses across the planet, starting in the US. BECCS uses the low-grade or residual wood byproducts from sustainable forestry practices to generate 24/7, renewable power. Because BECCS relies on a unique, locally produced form of fuel, it diversifies the power grid and can boost energy resilience and independence.
To this end, Elimini today announced the following:
Biomass supply option agreements with Manulife Investment Management and Molpus Woodlands to supply sustainably sourced woody biomass to fuel Elimini’s BECCS facilities in the US South.
A new Forest Landowners Assistance Program, which will be launched for local, family-owned, or underserved landowners to receive assistance with managing their forests and providing feedstocks for BECCS facilities that will meet Elimini’s high sustainability standards.
Elimini has selected engineering firm Sargent & Lundy as the owner’s engineer to support with the development of a BECCS project in the United States. Full scale development is underway at our most advanced site for our first greenfield BECCS project. Once fully operational, the 300-megawatt generation project will produce two terawatt hours of renewable energy while capturing 3Mt of CO2 annually – the equivalent of the average annual emissions of 100 commercial airliners.
Elimini intends to invest billions of dollars in new BECCS facilities globally, which will create hundreds of direct, permanent jobs at facilities, along with hundreds more during construction and across the value chain. More than 100 employees already actively work at Elimini’s global headquarters in Houston and across the USA and Canada.
Advancing carbon capture to lead a $1 trillion market opportunity
Pressure is mounting from consumers and governments for companies to take responsibility for the emissions released by their operations. However, much of the time the carbon dioxide released isn’t all that easy to mitigate directly.
In addition to generating 24/7, renewable power, BECCS facilities help remove emissions from the atmosphere by capturing more carbon dioxide than is released through the power generation process. The CO2 is then permanently stored underground in geological formations – resources that are abundant in much of the US South.
Because Elimini’s BECCS facilities will permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere, they will also generate high-quality carbon dioxide removal (CDR) removals that organizations can purchase to offset the CO2 released through their operations. This means permanently removing carbon isn’t just the right thing to do, it also makes business sense – demand for carbon credits is set to increase 13 times the 2021 market to 2.6 gigatonnes by 2030, and by 2050 it’s projected to exceed a $1 trillion market opportunity.
Elimini has an ambition to be a leader in carbon removals, and it has entered into the following agreements and collaborations:
Knowledge collaborations with innovative institutions to push the boundaries of carbon capture technology, and to develop best practices for involving the communities where carbon removals projects are deployed including:
University of Texas: Supporting research on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).
University of Houston: Supporting the Center for Carbon Management with its goal of researching and developing projects that will advance all aspects of carbon management as it applies to the energy industry.
Stephen F. Austin State University: Supporting the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, contributing funds to an endowment that provides scholarships for forestry students.
Mission Innovation: Sponsorship of the SMART CDR Competition, a first-of-its-kind global competition for university and college students from around the world.
Eleven CDR agreements with eight companies including:
Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) offtake agreements with Ultrabulk, Holborn Trading, Karbon-X, ClimateTrade, and the conversion of a previous MOU with C-Zero Markets to an offtake with Elimini.
Brokerage agreements with ClimateTrade, ClearBlue Markets and Karbon-X.
An advisory council formed of experts from across the carbon removals value chain that will help Elimini shape the business’s strategy and hold it true to its purpose and values. The council is comprised of experts with diverse backgrounds who share our commitment to removing carbon for good – including:
David Hill, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New York Independent System Operator and Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Previously, he was Executive Vice President & General Counsel of NRG Energy and served as the US Department of Energy General Counsel.
Miranda Ballentine, former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Installations, Environment, and Energy) and Founding CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association; currently serving as Senior Advisor at Green Strategies, and as a Board Member and Independent Practitioner to clean energy organizations.
Melissa Lott, Professor, Climate School, Columbia University.
Freddie Davis, Director of the Rural Training and Research Center at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives.
Rajiv S. Joshi, Founder of Bridging Ventures and former Executive Director of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), the world’s largest civil society alliance, launched by Nelson Mandela, working to end poverty and inequality.
Earlier this month, the Texas Association of Business (TAB) released a comprehensive economic impact study that projected four planned carbon removal projects in Texas would generate $1.8 billion in value and create approximately 7,500 full-time jobs statewide.
In a previously released statement on the study, TAB CEO Glenn Hamer said, “These initiatives not only reinforce our commitment to expanding jobs and industrial growth in Texas, but they also play a crucial role in reducing emissions and improving air quality in communities across the state.”
Because BECCS is the only technology on the market that can produce renewable power and carbon removals, it will meaningfully contribute to US energy supply and independence without harming our planet. We couldn’t be more excited that Elimini is putting down roots in Houston, and we look forward to contributing to Texas’ continued energy dominance for years to come.
Read more about our new company, team, and the latest research here.
Please get in touch for more information.