The Nickel Report

On February 23, 2023, the US Department of Energy (DOE) published two Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) titled Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilot Projects and Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program.  

Both programs provide incentives for the power and industrial sectors to develop carbon capture technologies. Together they will award more than $2.5 billion in funding to eligible projects at new and existing industrial facilities. As carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) continues to develop and grow, this funding presents opportunity for a broad range of stakeholders that operate in various industrial sectors.

The Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilot Project Program is designed to foster the development of technologies to improve emission reduction efficiency and provide alternatives for industrial sectors where emissions are more difficult and expensive to capture. The program will provide support to test novel technologies at intermediate scale to:

1. de-risk transformational carbon capture technologies and address community concerns through meaningful engagement and robust analysis…; and
2. catalyze significant follow-on investments from the private sector for first-of-a-kind (FOAK) commercial scale demonstrations….

DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), collaborating with the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), issued the FOA focusing on two Topic Areas (TA) with separate objectives. TA-1 projects include industrial facilities not purposed for electrical generation. TA-2 projects include coal or natural gas electrical generation facilities. Funding of $820 million will be made available with a maximum federal cost share of 70 percent for up to ten projects.

Deadlines for submissions are as follows:

• Concept Papers: April 5, 2023, 5:00pm ET
• Applications: June 21, 2023, 5:00pm ET
• Expected Deadline for Replies to Comments: August 14, 2023, 5:00pm ET

Applicant interviews and selection notifications are expected to take place in September 2023, with award negotiations to follow later in the fall of 2023.

The Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program will support entities intending to commercialize and deploy integrated CCUS technologies. The FOA focuses on projects with existing technical details that are ready to proceed into at-scale demonstrations and replications for commercialization.

This FOA was issued by OCED, in collaboration with FECM and NETL, specifying three project TAs: new or existing coal electric generation facilities; natural gas electric generation facilities; and industrial facilities not purposed for electric generation. Each of these TAs will consist of two projects that must “demonstrate significant improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, cost, operational and environmental performance of existing CCUS technologies.” $1.7 billion will be made available for approximately six projects at up to a 50 percent federal cost share.

Deadlines for submissions are as follows:

• Letters of Intent: March 28, 2023
• Applications: May 23, 2023, 5:00pm ET

Applicant interviews and selection notifications are expected to take place in September 2023, with award negotiations to follow later in the fall of 2023.

Funds for both programs were appropriated by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (more commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)). Projects in all TAs will need to demonstrate a separation of carbon emissions from a stream and validate at least 90 percent efficiency and 95 percent carbon dioxide purity under real exhaust conditions.

Grants under both programs are available to industry stakeholders, including any operating in partnership with National Laboratories; institutions of higher education; multi-institutional collaborations; for-profit entities; non-profit entities; tribal, state, and local governmental entities; and incorporated and unincorporated consortia.

*Luke Hale is a Government Affairs Assistant at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP