The Department of Energy is making up to $500 million available to boost pipeline projects and other infrastructure needed to transport carbon dioxide.
As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the capital will support projects that focus on safe and reliable systems that can transport CO2 for either storage or utilisation.
To meet the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a Net Zero emission economy by mid-century, the US must accelerate the development and deployment of its CO2-related technologies.
The country’s carbon transport system is already of significant scale, including multiple methods such as pipelines, trucks, and freight that together transport almost 60 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year.
It is thought that the US will likely need to capture and permanently store approximately 400–1,800 million tonnes of CO2 annually to meet its net-zero commitments by 2050.
Brad Crabtree, Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, said that investing in additional transportation capacity allows the US to plan ahead for future growth and take advantage of economies of scale.
He continued, “To successfully achieve our climate goals, 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.”
The funding opportunity will provide future growth grants under DOE’s Carbon Dioxide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (CIFIA) programme.
Future growth grants are intended to provide financial assistance for designing, developing, and building CO2 transport capacity up front that will then be available for future carbon capture and direct air capture facilities as they are developed and for additional CO2 storage and/or conversion sites as they come into operation.
The US CO2 market is a huge topic of discussion within the industrial gas market right now as very incentives and regulations are announced and rolled out.
To support confusion, the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) launched the CO2 Solutions Coalition to educate lawmakers, regulators, and the public about the necessary and beneficial uses of carbon dioxide (CO2) in diverse and essential applications.
The coalition is dedicated to advancing the responsible use of CO2, maximising the benefits of innovative carbon capture and utilisation technologies, and safeguarding the US’ delicate supply chain.
One piece of legislation that the CO2 Solutions Coalition is putting under the microscope is the Parity Act. A draft bill, the legislation is aimed at increasing the applicable dollar amount for qualified CO2, which is captured and utilised for purposes of the CO2 sequestration credit, or 45Q.
Rich Gottwald President of the CGA, has stated earlier this year (gasworld.com), “45Q has put a tax benefit on capturing CO2 as the US looks to reduce its emissions. Companies that take CO2 that they produce and sequester it into the ground get $85 a tonne to do that. And that’s creating a booming business.”
source: gasworld.com
