The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that it is providing $11.5m in funding for 12 carbon capture and storage projects.
The funding will be provided as part of the phase 1 of the Advanced Research Projects Agency- Energy’s (ARPA-E) FLExible Carbon Capture and Storage (FLECCS) programme.
The FLECCS projects will develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) processes for technologies, such as natural gas power generators, to be responsive to grid conditions in a high variable renewable energy (VRE) penetration environment.
The project teams are involved in the development of CCS retrofits for existing power generators along with greenfield systems that use fossil carbon-containing fuels and generate electricity.
The phase 1 of FLECCS programme will design, model and optimise CCS processes to enable flexibility on high-VRE grid.
ARPA-E Director Lane Genatowski said: “The FLECCS projects will work to address critical carbon capture and storage needs in our nation’s power systems.
“The FLECCS program is intended to enable the next generation of flexible, low-cost, and low-carbon electricity systems, and we are eager to work with these teams to innovate the grid of the future.”
Under the phase 2, the FLECCS teams will focus on building the components, unit operations and prototype systems to reduce technical risks and costs.
The phase 2 funding from US DOE will be $31m
For the phase 2 programme, the USDOE has also agreed to provide $31m in additional funding. After phase 1 is completed, the team will be down-selected based on engineering design review and projected economic impact of their projects.
Selected teams will go on to receive the additional funding to further develop their additional technologies.
Earlier this year in March, the department had announced a funding of up to $22m for research on capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air.
