Washington — The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced it is making up to $27 million available through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to support the transport of carbon dioxide (CO₂) captured from industrial and power generation facilities, as well as from legacy carbon dioxide emissions captured directly from the atmosphere,  to locations for permanent geologic storage or conversion to useful products. The CO₂ may be transported by several modes including pipelines, rail, trucks, barges, or ships. This effort supports the development of a large-scale carbon storage industry, key to achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic climate and clean energy agenda.

“The United States will need to capture and permanently store significant quantities of carbon dioxide emissions in the coming decades to reach the Biden Administration's decarbonization goals,” said Brad Crabtree, Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. “Meeting this challenge requires a substantial scale-up of our transport infrastructure that will not only support our growing carbon management industry but will serve to protect our communities and create good, high-wage jobs across the country.”

A CO₂ transport network is required to connect CO₂ sources, such as industrial facilities and power plants, to targeted, suitable geologic formations where captured CO₂ emissions can be permanently stored deep underground or to locations where it can be used as a feedstock to manufacture fuels, chemicals, building materials, and other products. To accommodate the expected rapid growth of the carbon capture and storage industry necessary to meet the President’s climate goals, we will need to significantly expand our current CO₂ transport infrastructure over the next decade.

Carbon Dioxide Transport, Front-End Engineering and Design Funding Announcement

The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will support front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for regional CO₂ transport networks to safely transport captured CO₂ from key sources to centralized locations. The 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. Funding of up to $3 million per FEED study is expected.

Read more details of this funding opportunity announcement here. All questions must be submitted through FedConnect; register here for an account. The application deadline is November 16, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Societal Considerations and Impacts

In alignment with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advance environmental justice and equity, funding applicants must carefully address the societal considerations and impacts of their proposed projects, emphasizing early and active engagement with communities.

Applicants must explain how projects are expected to deliver economic and environmental benefits and mitigate impacts; conduct community and stakeholder engagement; incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; and promote workforce development and quality jobs. Projects selected under this opportunity will be required to develop and implement strategies to ensure strong community and worker benefits, and report on such activities and outcomes.

The FEED studies will incorporate input from community engagement in identifying alternative routes and applicable safety mitigation measures, where appropriate.

DOE’s Advancements in Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage

Since January 2021, FECM has announced almost $400 million in project investments that advance research, development, and deployment of carbon transport and storage approaches. This total includes $6 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for two projects that will perform FEED studies for regional CO₂ pipeline networks. This progress is essential to help drive economic development, technological innovation, and high-wage jobs as we build a clean energy and industrial economy.

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.