OCED Seeks Public Input on Mid-Scale Commercial Direct Air Capture Demonstration Facilities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) today issued a Request for Information (RFI) in support of the Regional Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hubs program, which aims to kickstart a nationwide network of large-scale carbon dioxide removal sites to address legacy carbon dioxide pollution and complement rapid emissions reductions. The goal of this RFI is to better understand the role of and funding needs for mid-scale commercial direct air capture demonstration facilities with capture capacities of approximately 5,000–25,000 tons per year. 

Support for mid-scale demonstration facilities could benefit existing DOE programs and private sector-led technology commercialization efforts by acting as a bridge from smaller scale and early-stage DAC development projects. This includes those managed by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management and the National Energy Technology Laboratory to the later-stage-Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program managed by OCED. 

During the next two months, OCED seeks public input from industry, investors, developers, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, potentially impacted communities, and other entities on their interest, potential structure, benefits, and risks of mid-scale commercial DAC demonstration facilities. OCED plans to publicly share a summary of the RFI responses. Any information shared publicly would be aggregated and/or anonymized so that no information could be attributed to any individual respondent.

OCED’s Regional DAC Hubs program will develop four DAC Hubs, each of which will demonstrate a DAC technology or suite of technologies at a commercial scale with the potential for capturing at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere. As part of this program, OCED announced two projects selected for award negotiation in August 2023. 

Responses to the RFI are due on April 25, 2024 at 5 p.m., ET. View the RFI here.