Recently sworn-in Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm said “there’s plenty of opportunities if they are willing to go there” for the oil sector in the US as the country is at the cusp of transitioning into clean energy, local media reports. 

Citing the example of Chevron, the energy secretary said that many companies are now understanding the importance of transitioning from the traditional oil sector to the clean energy sector. She believes these companies can see that by 2050, the world will be demanding “carbon-zero solutions.”

As the power failures in Texas has thrown light on the shortcomings of the energy infrastructure of the state, Granholm has advice and plans for Texas and the oil companies. 

In a recent interview with The Washington Post, recently sworn-in Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm is seen talking about taking over a department that is right around the corner of transitioning into clean energy. 

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“I think Chevron just announced … that it was going to be investing $300 million in a fund to advance low-carbon technologies. So that’s a super important piece of an opportunity for them. But clearly, it’s going to be up to them to be more responsive to this. They could be investing in battery technology. They could be investing, obviously, in biofuels, which is different,” she said.   

On being asked about the role the Energy Department may play to guide these companies in the right direction, Jennifer said that there is a lot of research happening at the lab and they would be eager to deploy it to said companies. 

“Carbon capture and sequestration technologies, particularly, are being advanced out of the [National Energy Technology Laboratory] in West Virginia,” she said. 

The energy department is working on reducing emissions not only from carbon but also from natural gas. Taking General Motors’ example, she said, “they saw where this was heading, and they decided to diversify in the same way.”

General Motors has vowed to build only electric vehicles by 2035. 

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When asked about Texas and the electricity outages, Granholm said that the state should consider upgrading its “connectivity to the national grid so that the neighbouring states can help in time of crisis.” She says there is a need to “winterize” the system. 

Granholm also said that she supports small modular nuclear reactors and “community-based solar attached to a microgrid.” She believes communities should be incentivized to adopt this so that they do not depend on just “poles with wires atop.”

The energy secretary also said that the department would be playing a role in reviving the Iran nuclear deal. 

As far as the coal miners are concerned, the Biden administration has a plan. Granholm says, “We want to make sure that the technologies like carbon capture and sequestration, geothermal, hydrogen, are deployed. And these communities are the perfect place to demonstrate how these technologies can be used to get to our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. So we are excited about really bringing jobs to these communities.” 

Quoting a Brookings report, she said, “fossil communities are perhaps among the most ripe for the deployment of wind and solar technologies as well. So there are a boatload of clean-energy technologies that are consistent, perhaps, with the skills of those who have been doing mining, including, by the way, the mining of the critical materials that are necessary to build batteries.”