Notice of Intent to Issue Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) DE-FOA-0003490 | DE FOA 0003489

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003489

This announcement is a Notice of Intent (NOI) from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) indicating that DOE plans to release a future Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) titled "Carbon Capture Research and Development and Front-End Engineering Design Studies for Power Generation and Industrial Point Sources" (NOFO number DE-FOA-0003490). The key point is that this is not the actual funding solicitation yet. DOE is not accepting applications at this time, is not requesting feedback or public comments on the notice, and explicitly states that details may change when the formal NOFO is issued.

The planned opportunity focuses on advancing carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a tool for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from major stationary sources, especially power plants and industrial facilities. DOE frames CCS as one of several important approaches needed to achieve significant emissions reductions domestically and globally. The underlying problem the future NOFO aims to address is that current, state-of-the-art carbon capture systems remain expensive and energy-intensive, creating a major barrier to broad commercial deployment. In practice, capture systems can impose large efficiency penalties and high upfront capital costs, which slows adoption even where there is strong policy interest in decarbonization.

The NOI signals that DOE intends to support work that moves beyond small lab proof-of-concept and toward larger, more commercially relevant scales. The emphasis is on development, testing, and analysis that produce broad, high-quality data sets. Those data sets are important because they help reduce uncertainty about real-world performance, enable cost reduction through better designs and operational strategies, and provide evidence needed to validate claims about capture efficiency, reliability, and environmental impacts. DOE also highlights minimizing environmental risks while scaling up, which generally implies attention to issues like solvent or sorbent management, emissions of degradation products, waste handling, water use, and overall environmental footprint as systems move from pilot to demonstration contexts.

Two types of activities are highlighted in the title: research and development (R&D) and front-end engineering design (FEED) studies. R&D typically covers improving capture technologies, materials, process designs, controls, and integration strategies to cut costs and energy use while maintaining or improving capture performance. FEED studies generally refer to the engineering and planning work needed to define a project before final investment decisions, including process design packages, site-specific integration plans, equipment sizing, cost estimates, schedules, and risk assessments. By pairing R&D with FEED, DOE is signaling interest not only in new technology concepts but also in the practical engineering needed to translate promising approaches into buildable, financeable projects for power generation and industrial point sources.

Administratively, the notice is associated with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), and the planned financial assistance instrument is listed as a cooperative agreement. A cooperative agreement typically means DOE expects substantial involvement during the project, such as active technical engagement, milestone reviews, and collaboration as work progresses, rather than a more hands-off grant model. The opportunity is categorized under discretionary funding, with activity areas spanning energy, environment, natural resources, and science and technology R&D. The assistance listing is under CFDA 81.089, which is commonly used for DOE fossil energy and carbon management related research, development, and demonstration efforts.

Eligibility is listed as "unrestricted," which usually means a broad range of applicant types may be able to apply once the actual NOFO is released, such as companies, universities, nonprofits, and other organizations, subject to whatever specific requirements DOE includes later (for example, teaming, cost share, domestic content, or other compliance conditions). The record shows an original closing date of 2024-12-30, but because this is only an intent notice and DOE states applications are not being accepted yet, that date should be treated as provisional and not relied upon as a real submission deadline until the formal NOFO is published.

Some of the numeric fields in the source data also reinforce that this is not an active competition yet. For example, the "ExpectedAwards" field is shown as 0, which fits with the message that DOE has not opened applications. The award ceiling is shown as 2 (without context on units), which is likely a placeholder or an artifact of the early listing rather than a meaningful cap; the real NOFO typically clarifies maximum award sizes, total funding available, number of anticipated awards, and required cost share.

Overall, the NOI is best read as an early heads-up that DOE intends to fund work aimed at lowering the cost and energy penalty of carbon capture, improving performance confidence through testing and data generation, reducing environmental risks during scale-up, and advancing projects through FEED-level engineering for both power and industrial sources. Anyone interested in applying should monitor for the actual DE-FOA-0003490 NOFO release, because that final document is where DOE will define the specific topic areas, technical targets, eligibility details, cost-share requirements, submission instructions, and evaluation criteria.

• The National Energy Technology Laboratory in the energy, environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent to Issue Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) DE-FOA-0003490" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.089.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-10-31.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-12-30. (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 $2.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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