Energy Dept gives $12M for offshore carbon storage research

The Energy Department announced grants Wednesday to fund four research projects studying the storage of carbon dioxide offshore.

The projects are being funded partially through the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s program on carbon storage, which is aiming for commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage by 2035.

{mosads}“The funded research projects will assess the prospective geologic storage potential of offshore subsurface depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs and saline formations on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico,” the agency said in a statement.

“These projects will use existing geologic and geophysical data to conduct a prospective storage resource assessment that will approximate the amount of carbon dioxide that can be safely stored.”

Although it could have other applications, carbon storage is most frequently researched as a way to sequester carbon that is captured from a coal-fired power plant to reduce the global warming impact from burning coal.

Carbon capture is still being developed, although proposed regulations from the Obama administration would require new coal-fired power plants to reduce their carbon emissions to the level achievable with a capture system.

The projects funded Wednesday will look into possible storage under the sea bed off the middle and southern Atlantic coast and in various places in the Gulf of Mexico.