DOE funds target carbon capture effort

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has earmarked $43 million to aid carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology development.

Officials said the effort, via the FLExible Carbon Capture and Storage (FLECCS) program, would enable power generators to be responsive to grid conditions in a high variable renewable energy (VRE) penetration environment.

“Flexible CCS technology has the potential to achieve unprecedented carbon capture that will revolutionize the market, Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette said. “The FLECCS program will quickly advance our carbon capture technology to bring us closer to flexible, low-cost, net-zero carbon electricity systems.”

The DOE said the initiative would also address difficulties in decarbonization of electricity systems, focusing specifically on complications in CCS design, operations and commercialization potential with the increasing penetration of high VRE sources such as wind and solar power.

The project’s initial phase will focus on designing and optimizing CCS processes enabling flexibility on a high-VRE grid, officials said. The second phase targets means of building components, unit operations and small prototype systems to reduce the technical risks and costs associated with CCS systems.

Projects will be selected to move from Phase 1 to Phase 2 at the conclusion of the initial funding period, based on the output and capacity expansion analysis of the projects.

A portion of the funding will be made available for qualifying small business applicants under ARPA-E’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.