The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy on Wednesday announced that 16 carbon storage projects across the nation will receive a total of nearly $45 million in funding. “CCS will play a very important role as the world moves toward a lower-carbon economy,” Lynn Orr, DOE’s undersecretary for science and energy, said in a press release. “The U.S. must continue a leadership role in the development and deployment of CO2 storage technologies as a key element of a diversified energy economy.”
The awards, part of DOE’s Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) initiative, are broken into two phases of development. Ten recipients with a total of 13 projects were selected for Phase I, “Integrated CCS Pre-Feasibility,” awards:
- The Carbon Management Institute at the University of Wyoming will receive a total of $2.39 million for two projects;
- The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois will receive $1.21 million;
- The University of Texas at Austin will receive $1.2 million;
- The University of Utah will receive $1.33 million;
- Battelle Memorial Institute will receive a total of $3.6 million for three projects;
- The Electric Power Research Institute will receive $969,136;
- The University of North Dakota will receive $1.24 million;
- The University of Kansas/Kansas Geological Survey will receive $1.2 million;
- Columbia University in New York City will receive $1.2 million; and
- Louisiana State University and A&M College will receive $1.1 million.
Three projects were selected for Phase II, “Storage Complex Feasibility,” awards. “These projects will perform the initial characterization of a storage complex identified as having high potential. … These selected projects did not require the same pre-feasibility work needed in Phase I projects and demonstrated readiness to move on to the next phase,” the release explains.
Phase II awardees are the Southern States Energy Board, receiving $11.2 million; the University of North Dakota, receiving $8.8 million; and the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, receiving $8.9 million.