Dive Brief:
- The Department of Energy plans to offer $2.54 billion to help finance six carbon capture and storage, or CCS, demonstration projects at coal- and gas-fired power plants as well as at industrial facilities, according to a notice of intent issued Wednesday.
- DOE will also provide $100 million for designing regional carbon dioxide pipeline systems, the department said in a separate notice.
- “To meet President Biden’s climate goals, we have to rapidly decarbonize our power generation and heavy industries – such as steel production – that are essential to the clean energy transition,” DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
So far, CCS hasn’t taken off in the power sector. NRG Energy, for example, mothballed its Petra Nova carbon capture project at a Texas power plant in 2020 after experiencing operating problems and financial losses. It was the only carbon capture facility at a U.S. power plant.
DOE aims to spur carbon capture and storage development using funding authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The department intends to begin taking applications for funding in August or September.
The department said it expects to accept 12 applications for the initial design of CCS projects, which would receive a total of $160 million in DOE funding.
It then plans to offer $2.1 billion for the detailed design and construction of six CCS projects, two at coal-fired power plants, two at gas-fired plants and two at industrial facilities. The funding requires applicants to pay for at least half of their project’s costs.
Proposed projects must capture at least 95% of the carbon emissions from the facilities.
DOE sees wide potential benefits from CCS technology.
“CCS deployment can and should reduce emissions of other kinds of pollution in addition to CO2 pollution, protect communities from increases in cumulative pollution, and maintain and create good, high-wage jobs across the country,” the department said.
DOE said it will require funding applicants to show how their proposals will benefit communities and meet diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and environmental justice requirements.
“These requirements will improve the ways of facilitating public engagement, create opportunities for communities to help shape projects, and obtain data to support legislative and governmental decision-making,” the department said. “The intent is to develop community-informed CCS demonstrations that serve the cost-effective, efficient, equitable, and environmentally responsible expansion of CCS operations.”
DOE plans to begin taking funding applications for the design of regional carbon pipeline projects in the first quarter next year.
The funding aims to support open access or common carrier pipeline projects that connect multiple potential regional CO2 hubs for sources and storage options, according to DOE. It can also be used for pipeline projects that connect local carbon sources with storage and conversion options to form an integrated regional CO2 storage hub, the department said.
