US Energy: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $4.9 Billion to Deploy Infrastructure Necessary to Manage and Store Carbon Pollution

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a nearly $4.9 billion set of funding opportunities to bolster investments in the carbon management industry and to significantly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions released into the atmosphere through power generation and industrial operations. The funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will support three programs to help drive the demonstration and deployment of carbon capture systems, along with carbon transport and storage infrastructure. Large-scale deployment of carbon management technologies is crucial to addressing the climate crisis and meeting President Biden’s goal of a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy by 2050, which will both protect existing industrial jobs and create new ones.

“Nearly every climate model makes clear that we need carbon management technology—especially in hard to decarbonize sectors and heavy industries such as steel and cement production—to tackle the climate crisis,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping DOE pick up the pace on projects that can store tens of millions of tons of CO2 that would otherwise be emitted, which will bring jobs to our economy and deliver a healthier environment for all Americans.”

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Biden, invests even further in building a domestic carbon management industry, with substantial improvements to the federal carbon capture tax credit (45Q/Sec. 13104). DOE’s analysis estimates that actions taken through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will drive 2030 economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 2005 levels.

DOE continues to prioritize federal investments in climate solutions that deliver broadly shared prosperity, minimize harms, ensure meaningful benefits disadvantaged communities, and support American workers and collective bargaining. As such applicants for funding will be required to submit Community Benefits Plans detailing their commitments to community and labor engagement, quality job creation, diversity and equity, and implementation of the Justice40 Initiative. Projects selected under these opportunities will be required to develop implementation strategies and report on activities, and outcomes related to community economic and other benefits and environmental impacts, such as investments in registered apprenticeships, hiring local workers, participation of minority-owned business, or changes to non-CO2 pollution.

DOE today is announcing three funding opportunity announcements (FOAs): 

Carbon Storage Validation and Testing – This FOA supports the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative, managed by FECM, and provides up to $2.25 billion to support the development of new and expanded large-scale, commercial carbon storage projects with capacities to store 50 or more million metric tons of CO2, along with associated CO2 transport infrastructure. Projects will focus on detailed site characterization, permitting, and construction stages of project development under CarbonSAFE. Read the full FOA here.
Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program – DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), in partnership with the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), will manage the Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program. The program provides up to $2.54 billion to develop six integrated carbon capture, transport, and storage demonstration projects that can be readily replicated and deployed at fossil energy power plants and major industrial sources of CO2, such as cement, pulp and paper, iron and steel, and certain types of chemical production facilities. The FOA released today provides up to $189 million for up to 20 integrated front-end engineering design studies, with a second FOA expected later in 2022 to support detailed design, construction, and operation of carbon capture projects, as well as transport and storage of the captured CO2. Read the full FOA here.
Carbon Dioxide Transport Engineering and Design – FECM will manage the Carbon Dioxide Transport, Front-End Engineering and Design FOA which provides up to $100 million to design regional CO2 pipeline networks to safely transport captured CO2 from key sources to centralized locations. Projects will focus on carbon transport costs, transport network configurations, and technical and commercial considerations that support broad efforts to develop and deploy carbon capture, conversion, and storage at commercial scale. Read the full FOA here.
Since January 2021, DOE has invested more than $242 million in 55 research and development projects and front-end engineering design studies to advance carbon management approaches that include CO2 capture, transport, and storage. Visit the OCED and FECM websites for more information on how DOE is working to accelerate market adoption and deployment of carbon management technologies to support an equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system.