San Juan Generating Station. Photo courtesy of NMIMT’s Carbon Utilization and Storage Partnership of the Western United States.
Beginning in 2019, the Regional Initiative to Accelerate Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Deployment is supporting the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s (FECM) mission to help the United States meet its need for secure, affordable, and environmentally sound fossil energy supplies. The Regional Initiatives are accomplishing this by utilizing the expertise and stakeholder base built by the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) to continue to identify and address knowledge gaps in the widespread, commercial deployment of CCUS. Four individual Regional Initiatives were selected to facilitate and integrate information for their respective regions, this includes coordinating efforts with past, current, and future demonstration projects such as the Department of Energy’s Carbon Storage Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE). The four Regional Initiatives have been established to further the mission of the U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory Carbon Transport and Storage Program. By leveraging the strengths of the Regional Initiatives, it will be possible to identify and promote potential infrastructure and/or carbon utilization/storage projects that will help enable low-emissions, coal-based facilities of the future.
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The primary objective of the Regional Initiatives is to identify and help address regional storage and transport hurdles affecting commercial deployment of CCUS by performing the following activities:
More information on the individual Regional Initiative projects is provided below:
(Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative) - Battelle Memorial Institute combined two RCSPs—the Midwest RCSP led by Battelle and the Midwest Geologic Sequestration Consortium led by the Illinois State Geological Survey— to form the Regional Initiative Project, Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative comprising midwestern and northeastern states. The initiative is supporting key activities, including: (1) expanding regional stress/risk assessment to an additional level of detail in new areas; (2) expanding the acquisition of legacy seismic/well data from small oil/gas producers; (3) evaluating conceptual project definition for Atlantic offshore areas and east coast sources; (4) expanding industrial collaboration efforts to new sites/partners and collecting data from brine injection wells for use in storage assessment; (5) incorporating energy transition issues (e.g., hydrogen, direct air capture, bio-enhanced CCUS, cybersecurity, environmental justice, and job creation/workforce development) into infrastructure assessments; and (6) expanding outreach efforts to regional intergovernmental groups and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
NETL Project Landing Page (DE-FE0031836)
MRCI Webpage (external)
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology formed a new Regional Initiative project, Carbon Utilization and Storage Partnership, whose primary objective is to conduct activities that include: (1) identification of near-term storage opportunities and assistance with the development of commercial storage operation(s); (2) focused studies on CO2 injection and storage into basalts; (3) investigation of the use of CO2 as a geothermal working fluid; and (4) acceleration of the development of at least two “storage hubs” in the region.
NETL Project Landing Page (DE-FE0031837)
CUSP Webpage (external)
Southern States Energy Board formed the Regional Initiative project, SECARB-USA, encompassing parts of southern states with diverse storage opportunities in oil, saline, and unconventional reservoir settings. The project is engaging in activities that include: (1) characterization of the Georgia Coastal Plain; (2) detailed reservoir characterization in south Arkansas; (3) development of baseline data gathering and assessment for integrated blue/green hydrogen potential with CCUS, direct air capture, and bio-enhanced CCUS to screen and rank regional “storage hubs”; (4) engagement with the hard-to-decarbonize pulp and paper industry in the region; and (5) enhanced prediction of plume migration through increased understanding of CO2-brine-mineral interactions in multi-phase regions.
NETL Project Landing Page (DE-FE0031830)
SECARB Webpage (external)
The Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota leads the Regional Initiative project, PCOR Partnership in fostering the development of CCUS in the northern great plains states, adjacent Canadian provinces, and Alaska. Areas included in this region are dominated by fossil energy production and coincide with abundant opportunities for geologic storage in sedimentary basins. The PCOR Partnership is catalyzing CCUS projects in its region by 1) strengthening the technical foundation for geologic CO2 storage and enhanced oil recovery; 2) advancing capture technology; 3) improving application of monitoring technologies to commercial CCUS projects in the region; 4) promoting integration between capture, transportation, use, and storage industries; 5) facilitating regulatory frameworks; and 6) providing scientific support to policy makers.
NETL Project Landing Page (DE-FE0031838)
PCOR Webpage (external)
