November 20, 2020 - The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has issued a notice of intent (NOI) for a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to develop tools and methods designed to optimize safe, secure, and verifiable carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. If released, the FOA will support the goals of the Advanced Storage R&D technology area of DOE’s Carbon Storage Program.

DOE’s Carbon Storage Program primarily focuses on developing, testing and verifying technologies and techniques that address challenges related to long-term, commercial-scale storage of CO2 in the deep subsurface. Key initiatives within the Advanced Storage R&D technology area include improvements in tools and techniques to monitor the seal integrity of caprocks and to predict seismicity magnitudes and potential subsurface challenges before and during the injection of CO2.

The Emerging CO2 Storage Technologies: Optimizing Performance Through Minimization of Seismicity Risks and Monitoring Caprock Integrity FOA is intended to achieve three goals: facilitating the development of novel or advanced tools and methods to improve detection and characterization of faults during the site characterization phase; assessing existing seismic risk associated with large-scale CO2 injection; and identifying, locating, and quantifying unpredicted CO2/native fluid migration through the main caprock layer(s) overlying an injection reservoir. 

There are two anticipated areas of interest (AOI):

• AOI 1: Fault Detection, Characterization, and Hazard Assessment.

• AOI 2: Monitoring for CO2 and Native Fluid Migration Through and Above the Main Caprock Layers. 

The FOA is anticipated to be issued late in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2021.

More information on this NOI can be found here.

The Office of Fossil Energy funds research and development projects to reduce the risk and cost of advanced fossil energy technologies and further the sustainable use of the Nation’s fossil resources. To learn more about the programs within the Office of Fossil Energy, visit the Office of Fossil Energy website or sign up for FE news announcements. More information about the National Energy Technology Laboratory is available on the NETL website.