10.15.21

Hoeven Announces $5 Million DOE Grant to UND's EERC for PCOR Partnership

Senator Works to Ensure Strong Support for PCOR & Similar Efforts in Annual Funding Bills

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded approximately $5 million to the University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC). The funding will support the EERC-led Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership, which works to develop commercial-scale transportation and storage of carbon emissionsacross a 13-state region and in four Canadian provinces, accelerating the implementation of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies. As a member of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Committee, Hoeven works to ensure strong funding for PCOR and similar efforts in annual funding bills passed by Congress.

“North Dakota is leading the way in CCUS, and the EERC is a central part of these efforts as it works with partners across the region to implement these technologies in a commercially-viable way for a variety of energy sources, including coal, ethanol and for enhanced oil recovery,” said Hoeven. “We worked to advance this funding to ensure PCOR can continue its good work in researching, testing and developing our state’s capacity for CO2 transportation and storage.”

Today’s award follows a meeting Hoeven held with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at the EERC, where the senator stressed the critical role that CCUS will play in ensuring the nation remains energy secure. The senator outlined his efforts to advance the development of technologies like Project Tundra and ensure they are commercially-viable. To this end, the senator is prioritizing:

  • Front end investment in technology development, including bolstering the DOE-EERC partnership in support of efforts like Project Tundra.
    • Hoeven has secured $43 million in federal funding for Project Tundra to date.
  • Loan guarantees to help project developers secure financing to build the equipment and infrastructure needed to capture and store CO2.
    • Hoeven included funding in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 appropriations for critical loan guarantee programs at DOE and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS).
    • The senator also helped introduce bipartisan, bicameral legislation to provide flexible, low-interest loans and grants to support construction of CCUS infrastructure, like pipelines to transport CO2.
  • Enhancements for the 45Q and 48A Advanced Coal tax credits to provide important revenue streams to project developers and encourage adoption of CCUS.
    • Hoeven is sponsoring legislation to modernize the 48A tax credit for CO2 capture retrofit projects and helped introduce a bipartisan bill to provide a direct payment option for the 45Q and 48A CCUS tax incentives.
    • The senator previously worked to get the 45Q tax credit implemented in a way that makes CCUS projects more commercially-viable. 

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