As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced over $444 million to support sixteen selected projects across twelve states that will fight climate change by bolstering the nation’s carbon management industry. The projects, funded by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will expand carbon dioxide (CO2) storage infrastructure needed to significantly and responsibly reduce CO2 emissions from industrial operations and power plants, as well as from legacy emissions in the atmosphere. Large-scale, responsible deployment of carbon management technologies is crucial to meeting the Administration’s ambitious climate goal of achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.
“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is about transforming our nation for the better-curbing pollution and providing economic opportunities in communities throughout the nation,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Thanks to this historic agenda, DOE is investing in responsible carbon storage infrastructure to help slow the harmful effects of climate change all while revitalizing local economies and delivering cleaner air to the American people.”
To achieve net-zero emissions by midcentury, the United States will need to capture, transport, and permanently store hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide each year. This will require a concerted effort to build out the infrastructure to store large quantities of carbon dioxide in geologic storage facilities. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that carbon management projects are designed, built, and operated safely and responsibly, and in a way that reflects the best science and responds to the needs and inputs of local communities.
Carbon Storage Validation and Testing Project Selections
Sixteen projects were selected for negotiation to support the development of new and expanded large-scale, commercial carbon storage projects, each with the capacity to securely store 50 or more million metric tons of carbon dioxide over a 30-year period. All projects will support the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative, managed by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM).
Nine of the 16 projects were selected for CarbonSAFE Phase II: Storage Complex Feasibility, and will perform technical, economic, and community assessments for potential CO2 storage complexes, particularly in regions that currently lack these facilities:
- Battelle Memorial Institute (Columbus, OH) will conduct a feasibility study to advance carbon capture and storage in the Southeastern Illinois Basin.
- Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO) will conduct a feasibility study to advance a carbon storage reservoir in the Sacramento Delta.
- Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Energy (Big Stone Gap, VA) will study a storage hub in Wise County, Virginia to store CO2 from surrounding industrial sources.
- Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) will demonstrate the feasibility of transporting CO2 from the Tracy Power Station in Sparks, Nevada to an onshore basalt storage complex in northeastern California.
- Omnia Midstream Partners, LLC (Tulsa, OK) is studying plans to advance the Permian Regional Carbon Sequestration Hub for future storage activities in the Delaware Basin in Texas.
- Southern States Energy Board (Peachtree Corners, GA) will conduct a feasibility study for potential CO2 storage in South Florida to reduce industrial CO2 emissions.
- Trifecta Renewable Solutions (Plano, TX) will study the feasibility of developing a storage hub at the Red Hills Mine in Ackerman, Mississippi.
- University of Alaska Fairbanks (Fairbanks, AK) will evaluate the suitability of a CO2 storage complex for storing power plant emissions in the northern Cook Inlet Basin of south-central Alaska.
- University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY) will conduct a feasibility study to develop a saline CO2 storage hub for industries in the Echo Springs area of south-central Wyoming.
Seven projects were selected for CarbonSAFE Phase III: Site Characterization and Permitting. These recipients have completed studies of subsurface conditions and will now focus on conducting detailed site characterization, planning, and permitting stages of project development:
- Advanced Resources International, Inc. (Arlington, VA) will develop a commercial-scale geologic CO2 storage hub in state waters near Monkey Island, Louisiana.
- BP Carbon Solutions (Houston, TX) will develop a carbon storage hub located around its Whiting Refinery in Lake County, Indiana, with a project area that includes Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.
- New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Socorro, NM) will perform a site characterization study for three proposed storage sites in the San Juan Basin of northwest New Mexico.
- Projeo Corporation (Des Plaines, IL) will demonstrate the feasibility of converting a mature oil and gas field in the Permian Basin into a dedicated CO2 storage facility.
- River Parish Sequestration, LLC (Houston, TX) will develop a CO2 transportation and storage solution for the Louisiana Chemical Corridor.
- Southern States Energy Board (Peachtree Corners, GA) will conduct a site characterization study of four geologic carbon storage systems for the Tri-State Carbon Capture and Storage Hub supporting Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
- Tampa Electric Company (Tampa, FL) will perform a site characterization study for the proposed Polk Carbon Storage Complex located near an existing natural gas power station in Polk County, Florida.
DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), under the purview of FECM, will manage the selected projects. Additional details about the selected projects can be found here.
In alignment with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advance environmental justice and equity, DOE is dedicated to ensuring that projects under the CarbonSAFE program carefully address societal considerations and impacts, emphasizing early, active, and meaningful engagement with communities. All funding recipients will advance Community Benefits Plans to ensure local community members have a voice in project implementation, prepare residents for jobs in the emerging carbon capture and storage industry, and generate opportunities for economic development. The plans detail each recipient’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and also contribute to President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which works to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
DOE’s Advancement of Carbon Storage Technologies
With the selections announced today, FECM has announced investments of more than $816 million in projects since January 2021 that advance the research, development, and deployment of carbon transport and storage technologies and infrastructure. This includes $242 million for nine storage projects selected in May 2023 under the first closing of the Carbon Storage Validation and Testing funding opportunity. 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 the U.S. 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.