U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ANNOUNCES INTENT TO FUND BUILDOUT OF A CARBON DIOXIDE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM TO SUPPORT NATIONAL DECARBONIZATION EFFORTS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today issued a notice of intent (NOI) to provide funding made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for DOE’s Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (CIFIA) Future Growth Grants program, focused on expanding carbon dioxide (CO2) transportation infrastructure to help reduce CO2 emissions across the United States. Meeting the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a net-zero emissions economy by mid-century will require accelerating the responsible development and deployment of technology to capture CO2 emissions from industrial operations and power generation and to remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere. These efforts must be supported by a safe and reliable system that can transport the captured CO2 away, either for permanent geologic storage or for conversion to useful, durable products.
America’s carbon transport system is already of significant scale—including multiple methods such as truck, freight, and pipelines that together transport almost 60 million metric tons of CO2 per year. Carbon capture projects in the United States are predicted to capture and store 65 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030, 250 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2035, and 450 million metric tons per year by 2040. To accommodate the rapid growth of carbon capture and storage industry, we will need to significantly expand the infrastructure to transport carbon dioxide over the next decade.
If issued, this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will provide CIFIA future growth grants to provide financial assistance for developing and building extra CO2 transport capacity up front that will then be available for future carbon capture and direct air capture facilities as they are developed and for additional CO2 storage and/or conversion sites as they come into operation.
Significant economic benefits can be achieved through economies of scale—by making additional up-front investments now to provide enough CO2 transport infrastructure capacity to accommodate potential CO2 supplies that are expected to come into operation at a later time. Investments in additional capacity made available by CIFIA future growth grants can help avoid future construction of separate, redundant transport networks, as well as associated environmental impacts. The additional transport capacity also may incentivize CO2 emitters to make the capital investments required to capture CO2 at their facilities by providing assurance that the captured CO2 can be moved safely, reliably, and cost-effectively to geologic storage or other end-use locations.
To prepare for the upcoming issuance of this FOA, prospective applicants are encouraged to read the full NOI. DOE expects to issue the FOA during the fourth quarter of calendar year 2023.
In alignment with the President’s commitment that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law create broadly shared economic prosperity across the United States, FOA applicants will be required to carefully consider impacts and benefits to workers and communities by emphasizing community and labor engagement, creating high-quality jobs, and providing economic and environmental benefits to affected communities.
FECM minimizes environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions across our economy. Priority areas of technology work include carbon capture, carbon conversion, carbon dioxide removal, carbon dioxide transport and storage, hydrogen production with carbon management, methane emissions reduction, and critical minerals production. To learn more, visit the FECM website, sign up for FECM news announcements, and visit the National Energy Technology Laboratory website.
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