Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program Funding Opportunity Announcement | DE FOA 0002962

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002962

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0002962) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) competitive grant opportunity aimed at pushing carbon capture and storage (CCS) from proven concepts into real, commercial-scale demonstrations that can be repeated and deployed broadly. The FOA is issued by DOE's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), working in collaboration with the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM). The central idea is to fund fully integrated CCS projects that can show meaningful, measurable improvements in how carbon capture performs in the real world, not just in pilot settings. These awards are funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, widely known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and are structured as cooperative agreements, meaning DOE expects to be substantially involved during project execution rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back.

The program is designed for projects that are tightly connected to operating commercial facilities in the United States. DOE is looking for demonstrations that materially improve efficiency, effectiveness, cost, operational reliability, and environmental performance compared to existing carbon capture approaches. In other words, the project must go beyond "we can capture CO2" and instead prove that the proposed system can capture CO2 at high rates, operate in a way that fits real facility constraints, and do so with a clear pathway toward lower cost and better performance that would support future market adoption. The FOA emphasizes that while many decarbonization technologies already exist, further innovation and practical learning-by-doing at scale can create faster and more credible pathways to economy-wide emissions reductions. The demonstrations are intended to generate the operational experience that future developers, investors, and regulators rely on to accelerate deployment.

DOE is specifically soliciting approximately six large demonstration projects across three major facility categories. The FOA targets (1) two projects at new or existing coal-fired electric generation facilities, (2) two projects at new or existing natural gas electric generation facilities, and (3) two projects at new or existing industrial facilities that are not primarily for electric generation. Across these categories, the CCS projects are expected to be integrated end-to-end systems that capture CO2, transport it if transportation is needed, and store it. The focus is on domestic, commercial-scale demonstrations that are "transformational" in the sense that they can change what is considered feasible, affordable, and replicable for CCS deployment.

A key technical requirement is that projects must demonstrate at least 90 percent CO2 capture efficiency relative to baseline emissions, and they must also present a credible path to achieving even higher capture efficiencies over time for both power and industrial applications. The FOA also flags an important design consideration: if the CCS project includes a new on-site auxiliary system to generate power or steam to run the capture process, the project may need to include CO2 capture, compression, and storage for that auxiliary system as well, if doing so is necessary to meet the overall unit-wide minimum 90 percent capture requirement. The intent is to avoid shifting emissions to new supporting equipment and then claiming high capture performance only on a subset of the overall integrated system.

From a readiness standpoint, DOE is not looking for early-stage concepts. The FOA is geared toward projects with enough engineering and technical detail for reviewers to judge whether the technology and integrated system are truly ready for an at-scale demonstration. The program aligns to technologies that have been validated at a minimum Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 7, which generally implies a system prototype or integrated system has been demonstrated in an operational environment and is ready to be scaled up. This TRL emphasis is meant to ensure that the funded work is not basic research, but rather large, bankable demonstrations that can be replicated and deployed into commercial practice after the project.

Financially, the FOA makes up to $1.7 billion available in total funding for about six projects, with a stated federal cost share of up to 50 percent. The expected award ceiling listed is $350,000,000 per award, reinforcing that DOE anticipates a small number of very large, capital-intensive demonstrations rather than many small awards. Because these are cooperative agreements, award recipients should expect ongoing federal engagement, milestone-based oversight, and performance and reporting obligations consistent with large federal demonstration programs.

Eligibility is broad and includes state, county, and local governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; nonprofits (including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. This wide eligibility reflects the reality that commercial-scale CCS projects usually require partnerships across project developers, technology vendors, host facilities, storage developers/operators, and sometimes public entities involved in infrastructure, permitting, or community-facing components.

Administratively, applications must be submitted through the OCED Funding Opportunity Exchange portal (oced-exchange.energy.gov). The FOA was created February 23, 2023, with an original closing date of May 23, 2023, and it is categorized as discretionary funding in the energy activity area under CFDA number 81.255. The full FOA and official requirements, templates, and submission instructions are hosted on the OCED Exchange site, and that document governs the detailed evaluation criteria, required project narratives, technical and financial forms, and compliance expectations.

• The Department of Energy, Headquarters in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program Funding Opportunity Announcement" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.255.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 23, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 23, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $350,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

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