DOE Invests $979 Million in Carbon Capture and Storage

Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the selection of three new projects with a value of $3.18 billion to accelerate the development of advanced coal technologies with carbon capture and storage at commercial scale.

The DOE said these projects would help to enable commercial deployment to ensure the United States has clean, reliable and affordable electricity.

An investment of up to $979 million, including funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will be leveraged by more than $2.2 billion in private capital cost share as part of the third round of the DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative.

"By harnessing the power of science and technology, we can reduce carbon emissions and create new clean energy jobs. This investment is part of our commitment to advancing carbon capture and storage technologies to the point that widespread, affordable deployment can begin in 8 to 10 years," Chu said.

Projects will demonstrate advanced coal-fired technologies that will capture and sequester or put to beneficial use carbon emissions. The selections demonstrate technologies that:

• Make progress toward a target carbon dioxide capture efficiency of 90%


• Make progress toward a capture and sequestration goal of less than 10 percent increase in the cost of electricity for gasification systems and less than 35 percent for combustion and oxycombustion systems


• Capture and sequester or put to beneficial use an amount of carbon emissions in excess of the minimum of 300,000 tons per year required by CCPI.

The Clean Coal Power Initiative Round III was created in 2005 to reduce the time it would take for low-emission coal technologies to be ready for commercial use. These awards are the second installment of projects awarded under CCPI Round III. Two projects were previously selected under CCPI Round III in July 2009 to receive $408 million in DOE funds.