Carbon Capture, Grid Upgrades Gain Millions in New Federal Funds

DOE picks 16 projects to receive $23.4 million to speed development

Wyoming is set to gain new funding from DOE for efforts to innovate in carbon capture and storage at industrial and power plant sites.

Diagram Courtesy Wyoming Dept. of Environmental Quality

The U.S. Energy Dept. said it will invest a total of more than $231 million to accelerate carbon management at large-scale U.S. geologic storage areas, and to support new grid resilience and energy storage projects for nine states and three Tribes, with funding partly allocated from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The agency on July 10 selected 16 projects to receive a total of $23.4 million to accelerate carbon management project and to support data management and stakeholder engagement needed to boost their development.

The $23.4 million in DOE funding will help organizations with experience in carbon capture and storage to provide technical information and assistance to iindustrial and power plant facilities aiming to develop commercial-scale carbon management—specifically for regional deployment of large-scale, underground storage or for hubs that could sequester more than 5 million metric tons of carbon per year.

Projects include Battelle Memorial Institute’s development of a plan for a carbon management hub along the Atlantic Ocean outer continental shelf from Virginia to Massachusetts, an area with large carbon storage possibilities located close to industrial sources of carbon dioxide emissions with few options for local storage.

Also gaining new funding is Carbon Solutions LLC, a firm developing a carbon management hub roadmap for a project that could store up to 25 million tons of CO2 per year in southern Wyoming. its strategy will enable stakeholders to analyze success scenarios of 30 different facilities.

University researchers are key funding recipients, including New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, which will provide technical support to accelerate a carbon management hub in the state's Four Corners region by improving understanding and accurate characterization of geological risks.

Oklahoma State University’s project will focus on identifying key technical knowledge gaps and developing a "carbon ready” workforce, along with industry.

North Dakota State University's Energy and Environmental Research Center will work with Marathon Petroleum and TC Energy to lead community outreach related to carbon management, while the University of Texas plans to engage six other universities in the state to educate the public about critical CO2 management components.

Remaining supported projects involve data gathering and analysis by agencies in Alaska, Oklahoma, Illinois, Alabama New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wyoming and Michigan.

DOE Grid Strategies

There are also funds available for energy storage, grid modernization and resilience efforts, DOE said July 7 it will award a combined total of $207.6 million to the states and Tribes to use state geologic surveys to fill data gaps and "identify potential for large-scale projects," the agency said, with funding set to "reduce project costs and risks" and boost public understanding.

"This funding will ensure all communities have access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said. "These grants will help modernize the electric grid to reduce impacts of extreme weather and natural disasters while enhancing power sector reliability."

In particular, California will use $67.5 million of the DOE funding for a new Community Energy Resilience Investment program that add energy storage, invest in efficiency and harden the state electric grid as more electric vehicle connections are added, DOE and state officials said. The state will seek grid projects in the first quarter of 2024, particularly those that can boost resilience in disadvantaged communities, said David Hochschild, chair of the California Energy Commission. “The future runs through the electric grid,” he said.

"Selected projects will be used to advance California’s goal of achieving 100% clean energy through resilience solutions that deploy zero-carbon energy resources and reduce reliance on fossil fuels," said U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)

Texas will gain the second largest share of the awarded grid enhancement funding, $60.6 million, to identify and address transmission gaps through weatherization, advanced modeling technologies, vegetation management and fuel load strategies, said DOE.

The agency said the grid resilience grant program will distribute a total of $2.3 billion over the next five years to states, territories and federally recognized tribes, based on a formula that includes population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events and historical spending on mitigation efforts.

Mary B. Powers has reported on engineering and construction issues in the global energy and environmental sectors for more than 30 years from Washington, D.C. and Birmingham, Ala. She formerly wrote for the Platt's group of energy sector publications under McGraw Hill and S&P Global that included Inside Energy and Megawatt Daily, and was state editor for the Lexington, Ky., Herald Leader. Mary has a master’s degree in journalism from The American University.

As ENR Editor-at-Large for Energy, Business and Workforce, Debra K. Rubin has a broad vantage for news, issues and trends in global engineering and construction related to key areas of global energy development and transition, corporate business and management, regulation and risk and next-generation workforce development.

Debra also launched and manages ENR's Top 200 Environmental Firms annual ranking, which defines key players in the dynamic global market for environmental services; and is editor of ENR WorkforceToday e-newsletter on industry talent management news and trends. Click here to receive this free monthly newsletter.

She also is a key organizer of ENR's annual Groundbreaking Women in Construction conference, a major AEC industry forum for talent management and women's career advancement. Click here for more detail on plans in formation for the next live event.

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