The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced $2.52 billion in funding for carbon capture pilots and a carbon capture demonstration projects program.
Funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the two programs—Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilots and Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program—aim to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation and hard-to-abate industrial operations.
The two funding opportunity announcements released are:
Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilots: This funding opportunity includes up to $820 million for up to 10 projects focused on de-risking transformational carbon capture technologies and catalyzing significant follow-on investments for commercial-scale demonstrations on carbon emission sources across the power and industrial sectors. New carbon capture technologies are emerging from the past two decades of research and development and the next step is testing them at larger scales to help attract the capital necessary for their demonstration and deployment. Funding for this program will provide the support needed to test these novel technologies under relevant conditions in both the power and industrial sectors.
Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program: This funding opportunity includes up to $1.7 billion for approximately six projects to demonstrate commercial-scale carbon capture technologies integrated with CO2 transportation and geologic storage infrastructure. This program focuses on funding demonstration projects that can be readily replicated and deployed at power plants and major industrial sources of carbon emissions, such as cement, pulp and paper, iron, and steel.
Successful applicants for these pilots and demonstrations must illustrate meaningful engagement with and tangible benefits to the communities in which these projects will be located.
Applicants for funding will be required to submit Community Benefits Plans as a scored part of their applications to the program. These plans, now included across most DOE funding opportunities, require applicants to detail their commitments to community and labor engagement, quality job creation, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and benefits to disadvantaged communities as part of the Justice40 Initiative.
Projects selected under these opportunities will be required to develop and implement strategies to ensure strong community and worker benefits, and report on such activities and outcomes.
Read the full funding opportunity announcement for the Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilots here. Read the full funding opportunity announcement for the Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program here.
DOE may issue additional funding opportunities for these programs in the future. DOE anticipates issuing a third carbon capture demonstrations funding opportunity for projects that are still performing front-end engineering design studies.
