The US carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) sector is entering a new phase of maturity after years of slower progress.

Craig Frenette, a Senior Vice President in Brookfield’s Renewable Power & Transition Group, joined Infralogic’s Crossroads podcast to explore the current state of the carbon capture, utilization, and storage market (CCUS) and how it fits into Brookfield’s investment strategies.

Frenette discusses how with technology rooted in natural gas processing systems built as early as the 1960s, the CCUS commercial environment has only recently aligned to support largescale deployment. He also shared how federal incentives like the 45Q tax credit have been central to this shift, providing long-term revenue certainty for early movers.

Brookfield is targeting firstmover platforms with both operational experience and strategic positioning, such as California Resources Corporation’s Carbon TerraVault and Canada-based Entropy. Several early milestones are now materializing, including Carbon TerraVault receiving one of the first modern EPA Class VI sequestration permits in 2024 and Entropy preparing to start up one of the largest postcombustion CCS project for natural gas processing in Alberta, Glacier Phase 2.

Looking ahead, the CCS market is expected to become increasingly active on the M&A and financing front, as early projects reach commercial operation and require new types of capital, and fresh opportunities could emerge for CCS-paired natural gas power from the rising electricity demand driven by data centers and hyperscalers.“… Natural gas paired with carbon capture does present a compelling opportunity in the sense that it has a relatively quick time to market, and it has the attributes to have clean and baseload energy, which is important to offtakers,” said Frenette.

To listen to the podcast, click here.