Project Selections for FOA 2711: Carbon Storage Validation and Testing (Round 2)

CARBONSAFE PHASE II: STORAGE COMPLEX FEASIBILITY

Carbon Storage Complex Feasibility for Commercial Development in Paradise, Kentucky – CarbonSAFE Phase II — Battelle Memorial Institute (Columbus, Ohio) and major project participants plan to conduct a storage complex feasibility study to advance carbon capture and storage commerciality in the Southeastern Illinois Basin. The project will involve site characterization and assessment activities, including the drilling of a stratigraphic test well to validate the storage reservoir and confining system; subsurface modeling to develop a storage concept design, risk assessment, and mitigation plan to identify and reduce surface, subsurface, and non-technical risks; a monitoring plan to reduce leakage risks; and a techno-economic assessment to understand the economics, land, and pore space use and regulatory and policy status. The project will prioritize community dynamics, benefits, and outreach, including community characterization, economic revitalization and jobs analysis, and technical and non-technical outreach. The project outcomes will boost Kentucky’s carbon capture and storage growth, reduce project risks, advance resources, and support disadvantaged communities. The results of this project could lead to a commercial-scale storage program with the potential of developing into a regional storage hub, reducing overall carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, and aiding the region’s move toward a more energy-resilient and sustainable future.

DOE Funding: $8,999,989
Non-DOE Funding: $2,279,334
Total: $11,279,323
 

CTV III CO₂ Storage Project in Sacramento Basin, California — Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO), in collaboration with industry partners, aims to conduct a feasibility study to advance a carbon storage reservoir in the Sacramento Delta with the intent of de-risking and accelerating the implementation of storing 71 million metric tons (Mt) of carbon emissions at the Carbon Terra Vault (CTV) III project site. The reservoir will support emissions from existing point sources in the area, such as the Calpine Delta Energy Center, and a future direct air capture development to meet California’s CO₂ removal goals. The team plans to acquire and analyze data to advance the existing Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class VI application, conduct a risk assessment study, and assess the technical and economic case for the project. At the end of this project, preparation for a future CarbonSAFE application is expected, which will help accelerate the implementation of a commercial carbon capture and storage project in the Sacramento Delta. Additionally, this project will actively disseminate results and findings to facilitate carbon capture and storage implementation technologies, educate the public about carbon capture and storage, and guide carbon capture and storage incentives.

DOE Funding: $8,915,350
Non-DOE Funding: $2,228,837
Total: $11,144,187
 

Virginia CarbonSAFE Storage — The Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Energy (Big Stone Gap, Virginia) intends to develop a CO₂ storage hub in Wise County, Virginia with the potential to store more than 4 million Mt of CO₂ emitted annually from existing and planned industrial sources in the surrounding area. The project has received source commitment letters from KeyState Energy and Eastman Chemical. The commonwealth’s Department of Energy will execute a comprehensive site characterization plan to demonstrate the feasibility of safely and permanently storing commercial volumes of CO₂ in saline formations. Primary reservoir targets are in Devonian-Mississippian strata that, when used as a stacked storage complex, can store up to 900 million tons of CO₂. Secondary reservoir targets consist of Silurian-Mississippian strata; however, further characterization is necessary to obtain more accurate storage resource calculations and inform reservoir models. The commonwealth will develop an infrastructure framework for the storage hub, as well as establish a risk registry and conduct a comprehensive risk assessment. The project will evaluate the overall commerciality of a regional southwest Virginia storage complex. 

DOE Funding: $4,296,915
Non-DOE Funding: $1,285,387
Total: $5,582,302
 

California-Nevada CO₂ Storage Project (CANstore) — Electric Power Research Institute (Palo Alto, California) and the project participants intend to confirm the commercial storage capacity of a basalt storage complex and demonstrate the techno-economic feasibility of safely transporting and storing CO₂ from the Tracy Power Station in Sparks, Nevada and other CO₂ sources in the region to the onshore basalt storage complex on the Modoc Plateau in northeastern California. The CANstore Phase II project will involve geologic characterization activities, including drilling a stratigraphic well through approximately 1,700 meters of basalts, interbeds, and sediments into the basement; well logging, and hydrologic testing campaign; subsurface modeling studies to predict the size and shape of the subsurface CO₂ footprint; and sensitivity analyses to validate simulation, characterization, and monitoring approaches necessary to support a successful UIC Class VI permit application. The outcomes of this project will remove barriers to carbon capture and storage development in northern California-Nevada and demonstrate mineralization storage in basalts at a scale that will help de-risk net-zero and net-negative development projects across the region.

DOE Funding: $9,000,000
Non-DOE Funding: $2,374,311
Total: $11,374,311
 

Permian Regional Carbon Sequestration Hub (PRCS) — Omnia Midstream Partners LLC (Tulsa, Oklahoma) plans to link proposed UIC Class VI wells and pipeline infrastructure with inactive legacy and existing CO₂ enhanced oil recovery pipelines. This strategy will reduce expenses through operational redundancy and economies of scale, yield a favorable rate of return on invested capital, contribute to the decarbonization of the energy sector, and alleviate greenhouse gas emissions. Omnia plans the PRCS Hub as the primary conduit for future geologic storage activities in the Delaware Basin in Texas. Omnia has identified a suitable storage site based on several primary factors, including reservoir characteristics such as capacity, injectivity optimization, retention, induced seismicity risk mitigation, and pore space leasehold, along with proximity to emissions and legacy infrastructure. Omnia has been working with landowners and community members to achieve local benefits, including lower air pollution, job opportunities, increased tax revenues, and landowner participation. The plans also include leveraging the expertise of the skilled oil and gas workforce. Project leaders have formed partnerships with industry, academia, community, and landowners to expedite the deployment of the PRCS Hub.

DOE Funding: $8,921,052
Non-DOE Funding: $2,239,572
Total: $11,160,624
 

Atlantic Coast CO₂ Emissions Storage Sink (Project ACCESS) — Southern States Energy Board (Peachtree Corners, Georgia) aims to conduct a storage complex feasibility study for potential CO₂ storage in South Florida’s carbonate-rich geology to reduce emissions from CO₂-emitting industrial facilities. Project ACCESS has sufficient nearby sources of CO₂ to meet the CarbonSAFE requirements. The project will employ geophysical methods and a stratigraphic test well to gather site-specific geological data obtained through core samples, geophysical logs, and well testing, subsequently integrated into numerical models to verify the storage site’s suitability. The project will use the collected geological information to create plans for infrastructure, commercial development, monitoring, risk assessment, and outreach tailored to the site. 

DOE Funding: $9,000,000
Non-DOE Funding: $3,525,896
Total: $12,525,896
 

Red Hills CO₂ Storage Hub (RHCSH) Feasibility Study — Trifecta Renewable Solutions (Plano, Texas) and project partners intend to develop a storage complex feasibility project and create the RHCSH at the Red Hills Mine in Ackerman, Mississippi. Supported by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the owner and the operator of the Ackerman Combined Cycle Plant, and Mississippi Lignite Mining Company, the owner and the operator of the Red Hills Mine, the hub is planned to store 1.8 million Mt of CO₂ annually from the 705-megawatt (MW) Ackerman plant located adjacent to the proposed storage hub. The project aims to confirm the proposed hub’s suitability for commercial-scale and safe CO₂ storage.  A preliminary geologic assessment in the Ackerman area concluded potential storage formations exist with suitable salinity, porosity, permeability, and overlying/underlying sealing formations for CO₂ storage. The geological characterization activities undertaken will determine these controlling parameters.

DOE Funding: $9,000,000
Non-DOE Funding: $2,498,000
Total: $11,498,0000
 

Alaska Railbelt Carbon Capture and Storage (ARCCS) Project — University of Alaska Fairbanks (Fairbanks, Alaska) intends to determine the feasibility of developing a commercial-scale CO₂ geologic storage complex to store more than 50 million Mt of CO₂ safely and economically in south-central Alaska. The project will meet this objective by evaluating a CO₂ storage complex to determine its suitability for storing CO₂ emissions from the proposed Susitna Power Plant and aggregating emissions from two existing plants. The Beluga River Field, a nearly depleted unitized gas field, is proposed as the primary CO₂ storage horizon, with an estimated 157 million Mt of potential storage. Completion of the ARCCS project is expected to notably reduce the project risk profile by defining the carbon storage capacity in the northern Cook Inlet Basin. The project will promote energy security in Alaska, addressing the pending natural gas and electricity shortage in the Railbelt, which contains 75 percent of Alaska’s population. 

DOE Funding: $8,880,349
Non-DOE Funding: $2,220,101
Total: $11,100,450

The Williams Echo Springs CarbonSAFE Storage Complex Feasibility Study — University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyoming) and the project participants aim to conduct a storage complex feasibility study to develop a saline CO₂ storage hub for current and future industries in the Echo Springs area of south-central Wyoming. Team member Williams Field Services Group has an initial source capable of supplying more than 100,000 Mt annually. The State of Wyoming has existing local transport pipelines for CO₂, and Williams is experienced with pipeline transport as a midstream natural gas company. This two-year project will permit and drill a deep stratigraphic test well by the end of Year One and interpret the resulting data in Year Two, ensuring foundational data, models, and documents for further site development. Expected outcomes from this study include confirming which of the six stacked formations at Echo Springs can safely, securely, and economically store at least 50 million Mt of CO₂ for 30 years; developing a commercial-scale monitoring, reporting, and verification plan; and developing plans to link the storage site to pipeline transport.

DOE Funding: $8,998,257
Non-DOE Funding: $2,250,001
Total: $11,248,258

CARBONSAFE PHASE III: SITE CHARACTERIZATION AND PERMITTING

Monkey Island Carbon Storage Project — Advanced Resources International Inc. (Arlington, Virginia) plans to develop a commercial-scale geologic CO₂ storage hub in state waters near Monkey Island, Louisiana. The project will focus on establishing and performing a detailed commercial CO₂ site assessment, followed by obtaining the necessary UIC Class VI permits and creating storage field development and community outreach plans. The project goals are to establish leading practices related to permitting requirements for offshore carbon capture and storage development for CO₂ storage projects in Louisiana State waters and to attract brownfield/greenfield carbon capture and storage projects to the Louisiana Coast. Community outreach efforts will focus on bettering the socio-economic conditions for distressed communities by providing high-paying jobs to the displaced energy industry workforce and improving regional air quality.

DOE Funding: $21,175,655
Non-DOE Funding: $5,293,913
Total Value: $26,469,568
 

Project Crossroads: Appraising Storage Facilities to Decarbonize Northern Indiana, Northeastern Illinois, and Southwestern Michigan — BP Carbon Solutions LLC (Houston, Texas) intends to develop Project Crossroads as a geologic storage hub located around its Whiting Refinery to help with the decarbonization of northwestern Indiana. It is proposed that up to 23 million Mt of CO₂ per year will be stored in the storage hub. Four characterization wells will be drilled across the project area, which includes Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. Each well will focus on characterizing the Upper Mt. Simon Sandstone. For two well locations, an UIC Class VI permit will be prepared and filed. The completed project will consist of multiple CO₂ storage facilities linked by more than 100 miles of new pipeline. 

DOE Funding: $98,240,569
Non-DOE Funding: $39,805,214
Total: $138,045,783
 

Four Corners Carbon Storage Hub: CarbonSAFE Phase III Project — New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Socorro, New Mexico) plans to perform a comprehensive commercial-scale site characterization study at three proposed storage sites within the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico to facilitate in the development of the Four Corners Carbon Storage Hub. The project will use data obtained from the geologic characterization study and environmental analysis to verify that each proposed site can securely store 50 million Mt of CO₂ over a 30-year period. The project will prepare, submit, and obtain the UIC Class VI permit. The storage hub will source CO₂ from at least four industrial sites and intends to store at least 240 million Mt of CO₂ over 30 years. The project will continue with existing outreach programs and support industry-based programs to educate the public on the usefulness of integrated carbon capture and storage projects. Development of the storage hub will positively impact the community by reducing the region’s ambient CO₂ concentration; directly and indirectly creating jobs that support the local and regional economy; providing additional streams of income that will accelerate development from carbon credits to support local communities and enhance the economic and financial resilience of the region; and providing socio-economic benefits associated with improving and expanding infrastructure.

DOE Funding: $41,409,910
Non-DOE Funding: $10,391,003
Total: $51,800,913
 

The Phoenix Project: Demonstration of Safe, Reliable Conversion of a Mature Oilfield for Dedicated CO₂ Storage in the Permian Basin — Projeo Corporation (Crane County, Texas) intends to demonstrate the feasibility of safely converting a mature oil and gas field in the Permian Basin into a dedicated CO₂ storage facility. The project will focus on detailed site characterization and risk mitigation. Detailed characterization will help to determine the capacity and injectivity of the storage complex. The project will use information gathered from the characterization efforts to complete a storage field development plan and to apply for one or more UIC Class VI well permits. The project will undertake a risk assessment and mitigation plan to determine reliable and cost-effective ways to evaluate legacy wellbore conditions and risks and mitigation measures. As a part of this project, Projeo will perform a CO₂ front-end engineering and design (FEED) study and a CO₂ source feasibility study for CO₂ supply sources and transportation options. 

DOE Funding: $38,376,061
Non-DOE Funding: $10,176,967
Total: $48,553,028
 

A Critical Carbon Storage Hub for the Louisiana Chemical Corridor — River Parish Sequestration LLC (Houston, Texas) plans to develop the River Parish Sequestration Project (RPS Project) as a CO₂ transportation and storage solution for the Louisiana Chemical Corridor. The RPS Project is located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and is adjacent to more than 50 existing industrial facilities that emit approximately 60 million tons of CO₂ per year. The project will complete key site characterization and permitting efforts for three injection wells with a combined storage capacity of 176 million tons of CO₂ stored over 30 years. Site characterization efforts include an aerial magnetic survey to identify artificial penetrations in the project area and permitting, drilling, and injection testing of a stratigraphic test well. The project will also complete a FEED study for the RPS Pipeline System, which will transport CO₂ from the industrial emitters to the carbon capture and storage complex. Permitting efforts for CO₂ injection wells include resolving agency comments on UIC Class VI permit applications. 

DOE Funding: $25,634,345
Non-DOE Funding: $6,408,587
Total: $32,042,932
 

Tri-State CO₂ Storage Hub; Tri-State Project — Southern States Energy Board (Peachtree Corner, Georgia) intends to characterize four stacked geologic reservoir and caprock carbon storage systems in the West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania region to better understand suitability for CO₂ storage and caprock competence. Currently, the region has no viable CO₂ storage solutions despite a clear customer base (131 industrial facilities within 50 miles of the proposed project site that report nearly 47 million Mt of CO₂ emissions per year). Thus, this project aims to construct the Tri-State Carbon Capture and Storage Hub to support the decarbonization of the region. The project will characterize the target formations using data from geophysical methods and data obtained from the drilling of three characterization wells. The project team will submit all the necessary documentation to augment pending Class VI permit application(s).

DOE Funding: $55,248,174
Non-DOE Funding: $13,812,663
Total: $69,060,837
 

CarbonSAFE Phase III, Polk Carbon Storage Complex Detailed Site Characterization — Tampa Electric Company (Tampa, Florida) plans to perform a detailed site characterization study for the proposed Polk Carbon Storage Complex near the Polk Power Station, which is an existing 1,190-MW natural gas combined cycle power station in Mulberry, Florida. Previous assessments suggest that the Polk Carbon Storage Complex can store a minimum of 150 million Mt of CO₂ over 30 years. The study is designed to further characterize the geology of the proposed Polk Carbon Storage Complex and validate its storage capacity. Characterization efforts will consist of drilling two stratigraphic test wells, completing a baseline 3D seismic survey, and geological and geochemical lab testing. The project will use data obtained from the site characterization to construct a site-specific risk assessment, update the storage field development plan, conduct a business financial analysis, and develop a plan to perform public outreach and stakeholder engagement. The project will file a UIC Class VI permit. Tampa Electric has the goal of reducing CO₂ emissions by 80% by 2040 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Development of the Polk Carbon Storage Complex will contribute to meeting its goals.

DOE Funding: $88,349,189
Non-DOE Funding: $22,087,297
Total: $110,436,486