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The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory issued the attached Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to competitively solicit projects that demonstrate novel technologies under the Crosscutting Research Program Area to support DOE Strategic Goals. This FOA requests applications that develop deep subsurface monitoring sensor technologies to ensure secure geologic storage of CO2. It is envisioned that awards under this action will be structured as two to three year awards with decision points. Please note the application is due on Monday, June 18th, 2012. For further details, please see the attached FOA. | |
New results from a project at the Department of Energy's National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) shows that changes in operating conditions coupled with changes in commercially manufactured catalysts can produce both power generation increases and significant cost savings at Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants. Through testing a variety of commercially available water-gas shift (WGS) catalysts, NCCC researchers were able to significantly reduce the steam-to-CO ratio while still achieving high CO conversion without side reactions. Specifically, the 1.0 reduction in steam-to-CO ratio that was achieved corresponds to a 40-megawatt increase in power generation in a 500-megawatt IGCC plant. According to the researchers, this could result in cost savings of more than $275 million over a plant’s estimated 30-year lifespan at current IGCC power costs of about $33 per megawatt-hour. | |
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposed rule, called the “Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions for New Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units”, which limits greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from new electric generating units. According to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, approximately 15 coal-fired power plants will not have to meet the requirements in the GHG rule for power plants. The exemption applies also to plants whose permits are being amended "if those sources are intending to install CCS as evidenced by participating in any of the DOE CCS funding programs, either loan guarantee or grant programs" and beginning construction in the next 12 months. | |
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently released a study showing that there is enough capacity in deep saline aquifers in the United States to store at least a century’s worth of carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants. The MIT researchers modeled how the carbon dioxide would percolate through the rock, accounting not only for the ultimate capacity of the formations but the rate of injection that could be sustained over time. | |
On March 2, the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) issued a $150 million funding opportunity open for innovative renewable and non-renewable electricity generation, energy efficiency and transportation technologies. There are several technology categories available for funding that may be of interest to CURC members, including: Category 4: Conventional Generation (Non-Renewable) Subcategory E: Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage Subcategory J: Water Conservation In Conventional Generation Category 7: Other Subcategory I: Heat Recovery Subcategory J: High Temperatures Materials | |
Last year the President put forward a plan in the Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future that outlined the Administration’s approach to American energy. Yesterday, the President received a report detailing the Administration’s progress in each of these areas. One area reviewed was titled "Investing in Cutting-Edge Clean Coal Technology." | |
The Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0000652 in support of the Carbon Storage Program titled "Technologies to Ensure Permanent Geologic Carbon Storage." The Funding Opportunity Announcement is summarized below. | |
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced legislation yesterday aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by mandating greater use of low-carbon energy sources. The legislation, known as the Clean Energy Standard (CES) Act of 2012, would require large utilities to produce at least 24 percent of their electricity from “clean” sources by 2015, increasing by 3 percent annually through 2035. Utilities can meet the standards outlined in the bill by producing electricity from renewable energy, nuclear energy, natural gas and coal with carbon capture and sequestration. Generators with no net carbon emissions would be awarded one full credit per megawatt produced. Natural gas plants and coal-fired facilities using carbon capture technologies or simultaneously burning biomass would be eligible for partial credits determined by net CO2 emissions emitted. | |
The Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) focused on developing advanced oxy-combustion technologies for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture that can be applied to new or retrofit/repowered coal-based power plants. It is also anticipated that the technologies developed under this FOA may also have application to natural gas-fired plants, and industrial boilers as well. Approximately $10 million in DOE funding is expected to be available for new Phase I awards under this FOA. An additional $21 million in DOE funding is expected to be available for the Phase II down-selections, subject to availability of funds. | |
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES, formerly the Pew Group) and the Great Plains Institute released recommendations to boost domestic oil production and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through the expanded use of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The centerpiece recommendation is a competitively awarded, revenue-positive federal production tax credit (PTC) for capturing and transporting CO2 to stimulate CO2-EOR expansion. It is also recommended that Congress undertake immediate modification of the existing section 45Q tax credit for CO2 sequestration, through legislative action and/or working with the Dept. of Treasury to revise Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program guidance. | |
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) - formerly the Pew Group - recently released a report titled "Greenhouse Gas Accounting Framework for Carbon Capture and Storage Projects" that includes detailed methodologies to calculate emission reductions at each stage of the CCS process: CO2 capture, transport, and injection and storage. The methods were developed with input from CCS experts in industry, academia, and the environmental community. |
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