Washington, DC -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to enhance the capability to simulate, track, and evaluate the potential risks of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in geologic formations. Geologic storage is considered to be a key technological solution to mitigate CO2 emissions and combat climate change.
DOE anticipates making multiple project awards under this FOA and, depending on fiscal year 2009 appropriations, may be able to provide up to $24 million to be distributed among selected recipients. This investment is expected to create nearly 160 full-time jobs per year. These jobs will be supported throughout the life of the projects, which is anticipated to be up to four years. > Read the Funding Opportunity Announcement
The projects will be cost-shared, with the award recipient(s) providing at least 20 percent of the total funding required for each project. The solicitation contemplates cooperative agreements among the Government, academia, and industry to develop and successfully apply innovative, advanced technology and protocols to improve understanding of the factors affecting CO2 storage permanence and capacity in geologic formations.
Coal is the Nation's most abundant energy resource, supplying nearly 50 percent of domestic electricity. In order for low-cost electricity to remain available from coal-fired power plants in the future, economical methods for capturing and storing the greenhouse gas emissions (primarily CO2) from these plants must be developed. It is widely believed that CO2 storage in deep geologic formations will be one of the most economical ways to achieve this goal.
The specific objectives of projects funded under this FOA include: (1) developing tools and protocols for the monitoring, verification, and accounting of CO2 stored in geologic formations; (2) improve simulation tools to predict the behavior of geologically stored CO2; and (3) develop risk assessment models associated with geologic CO2 storage. The selected projects will be managed by the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.
Projects selected under this FOA will become part of the research portfolio of the Office of Fossil Energy's Carbon Sequestration Program. The program goal is to develop technologies to safely and permanently store CO2 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions without adversely affecting energy use or hindering economic growth. The program is comprised of four principal elements: (1) core research and development, (2) deployment, (3) demonstration, and (4) global partnerships and collaborations.
<p>FECommunications@hq.doe.gov</p><p> </p>