US DOE invests $500 million in CO2 transportation projects, seeks applications

The US Department of Energy is seeking applications for $500 million worth of funds it made available to bolster CO2 transportation infrastructure, building ahead of demand as the US aims to ramp up carbon capture, according to a May 2 DOE statement.

Investing in CO2 transportation capacity will play a key part in reducing emissions, according to the DOE. The DOE is incentivizing this infrastructure so it can be available "for future carbon capture and direct air capture facilities as they are developed," according to the statement.

Efforts to deploy CO2 capture with industrial operations and direct air capture "must be supported by a safe and reliable system that can transport the captured CO2, either for permanent geologic storage or for conversion to useful, durable products," the statement reads.

The DOE aims to invest in CO2 infrastructure projects up front to encourage building ahead of future carbon capture and sequestration facilities as they are developed, according to the DOE statement. The DOE estimates the US will need to capture and permanently store 400-1,800 million mt of CO2 annually to meet its 2050 net-zero emissions goal.

"...It is critical to ensure that we have adequate infrastructure in place to accommodate the growing volumes of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years that we must capture from industrial facilities, power plants, and future direct air capture projects and then transport to geologic formations for permanent storage," Brad Crabtree, assistant secretary of fossil energy and carbon management, said in the release.

The May 2 funding opportunity announcement was made available through the $1 trillion infrastructure legislation passed in late 2021.

Projects that could see funding include pipelines, rails, trucks, barges and ships. These projects "must connect, either directly or indirectly, two or more CO2 emitting sources to one or more conversion sites or secure geologic storage facilities," according to the statement.

Applications for the funding are due July 30.

"DOE is interested in projects sited in different regions that will provide increased understanding of varying CO2 transport costs, transport modes, and transport network configurations, as well as technical, regulatory, and commercial considerations," the release said.