Congress should implement greater oversight oversight of the U.S. Energy Dept.'s carbon capture storage program and seek better accountability, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in aDec. 20 report. The report comes after several failed attempts to demonstrate funded carbon capture and storage technologies with the potential to mitigate global climate change.

母鹿spent about $1.1 billion since 2009 to demonstrate 11 large-scale projects at coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities meant to accelerate the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The demonstrations ended with just three of 11 projects being built, GAO said.

Of eight projects at the power plant sites, one was completed and began operating, but it was shut down in 2020. “Implementing them has proven to be a challenge,” GAO said in its analysis for the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Two of the three industrial demonstration projects were completed and continue to operate.

Three coal projects withdrew from participating in DOE’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, and the agency terminated its cooperative agreements with four others. “In total, DOE invested nearly $684 million in six of the eight coal projects the agency initially selected for funding,” GAO said.

In reviewing documents and conducting interviews, GAO found that economics was a problem for many coal-based CCS projects, even though some had completed engineering and design studies. They were affected by competition with natural gas, uncertainty surrounding carbon markets and tax incentives, and high development costs.

高高说，美国能源部决定完全承诺在其最初的选择下进行煤炭项目，而不是对他们进行进18luck官网一步审查，从而增加了失败的风险。据监督机构称，部门官员还按照加速时间表谈判了资金协议，这增加了承销项目不太可能成功的风险。18luck官网

“DOE bypassed cost controls at the direction of its senior leadership on four struggling coal projects in order to provide additional time to meet key milestones, ultimately spending nearly $472 million before terminating those cooperative agreements prior to the construction of any facilities,” GAO said.

部门官员告诉GAO，在正常情况下，在合作协议中进行尽职调查并协商条款可能需要一年的时间，但该机构在不到三个月的时间内加速了清洁煤炭项目。18luck官网

母鹿also bypassed cost controls designed to limit its financial exposure for the four coal demonstrations whose cooperative agreements were ultimately terminated. “Consequently, DOE exceeded its planned early-phase funding targets on projects for which no facilities were constructed,” GAO said.

在选择工业CCS项目时，DOE使用了更传统的“下调”过程，将18luck官网13个项目分配给13个项目，以进行其他设计研究，然后将其选择范围缩小到三个项目以进行全额资金。

The extra time for projects to refine designs, scopes and plans allowed DOE to select projects that were in the best position to succeed, department officials told GAO. “Specifically, they noted that at the time of initial application, most coal demonstration projects had not conducted in-depth design and engineering work, meaning that DOE assumed a great deal of risk in selecting them for full funding,” the GAO report said.

Little Likelihood of Success

Ultimately GAO found that improving program-level practices alone might not fully address “the risk of senior DOE leadership placing taxpayer funds at risk if future CCS demonstration projects struggle to meet key performance milestones.” The oversight agency said a congressional mechanism is needed to provide greater oversight and accountability of DOE project expenditures on CCS demonstrations.

“Absent such a mechanism, DOE is at risk of expending significant funds on CCS demonstration projects that have little likelihood of success,” GAO said.

Doe表示，其新的清洁能源演示办公室将评估GAO的建议，并制定解决GAO关注所需的纠正措施。

新办公室于12月21日宣布，该办公室由新制定的联邦基础设施法提供了210亿美元，用于管理CCS和其他清洁能源技术演示项目，包括绿色氢，网格尺度储能，小型模块化核反应堆等。18luck官网它说，这笔资金是620亿美元的DOE的一部分，将从法律中获得清洁能源示范项目的收益。18luck官网

近95亿美元的项目将基金四个regional green hydrogen hubs, a manufacturing and recycling program, and technology demonstration and commercialization. About $3.5 billion is earmarked for CCS pilot and demonstration projects, with $2.5 billion for advanced nuclear reactor projects.

母鹿said it plans to locate demonstration projects in areas that are economically hard hit and at highest risk for pollution and climate change impacts, as part of the Biden administration Justice40 initiative's goal to deliver 40% of clean energy investment benefits to those communities.

“DOE will now have to scale up its current capabilities for selecting and administering such projects,” said the American Institute of Physics.

Frank Rusco, GAO’s natural resources and environment group director who conducted the investigation, said GAO has not yet evaluated the new office.

他告诉ENR：“像往常一样，DOE正在考虑我们的建议，如果他们实施了建议，它将有助于避免将来的问题。”新利luck