Notice of Intent (NOI) related to Regional Initiative for Technical Assistance Partnerships (RITAP) to Advance Deployment of Basin-Scale Carbon Transport and Storage and Community Engagement | DE FOA 0003013

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003013

This Notice of Intent (NOI) announces that the U.S. Department of Energy, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), plans to issue a future Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the Regional Initiative for Technical Assistance Partnerships (RITAP) to Advance Deployment of Basin-Scale Carbon Transport and Storage and Community Engagement. The NOI itself is informational only and is not an open solicitation. DOE is not accepting applications under this NOI, and prospective applicants would need to wait for the formal FOA (referenced as DE-FOA-0003014 in the description) to be released before any submissions could be made.

The planned RITAP effort is centered on accelerating deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and storage-based carbon management (CM) by focusing on issues that emerge when multiple carbon storage projects are developed within the same geologic basin or sub-basin. Rather than treating each storage project as a standalone development, the program concept emphasizes basin-scale coordination and problem-solving, recognizing that shared geology, shared infrastructure corridors, and overlapping legal or regulatory contexts can create technical and social complications that are hard to resolve project-by-project. In practice, the intent is to leverage lessons learned from past and ongoing DOE-supported efforts and translate that experience into targeted technical assistance partnerships that can help regions move from individual proposals toward coordinated, buildable carbon transport and storage networks.

A major theme of the NOI is addressing “unique challenges and opportunities” that arise from clustering storage projects in the same basin. The notice highlights examples such as pressure interference between neighboring storage facilities (where injection operations at one site can influence reservoir pressure and performance at another), conflicts around pore space access and mineral rights (including how subsurface ownership and usage rights are defined and negotiated), and carbon dioxide transportation rights-of-way (which can involve complex routing, permitting, landowner negotiations, and siting constraints). It also points to the reality of diverse regulatory jurisdictions, where different states, agencies, and permitting frameworks may apply across a single basin, complicating consistent oversight and increasing uncertainty for developers and communities alike. By framing these as basin-scale issues, the planned program signals an interest in coordination tools, shared analysis, and regionally relevant guidance that can reduce duplication and lower barriers to deployment.

Another core purpose is community engagement and public-facing information. The NOI indicates that the resulting projects are expected to serve as a valuable public information resource for two key audiences: developers who need help navigating the cross-cutting basin-scale challenges, and affected communities that want to understand, engage with, and participate in resolving those challenges. This suggests an emphasis on transparency, accessible technical assistance, and processes that help communities meaningfully weigh in on infrastructure planning, risk considerations, and governance questions, especially where multiple projects could cumulatively affect a region. In other words, the effort is not just about technical storage performance or pipeline routing in isolation, but also about building the public understanding and engagement capacity needed for large-scale carbon management buildout.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is identified in the source data as a discretionary funding program under the Energy and Environment activity area (CFDA 81.089), with funding anticipated to be awarded via cooperative agreements, which typically involve substantial federal involvement during the performance of the project. The eligible applicant category is listed as unrestricted, implying that a broad set of entity types may be able to apply once the FOA is issued, subject to the specific requirements that will be spelled out in the formal announcement. The record also lists an expected award ceiling of $2 (as shown in the source data) and “ExpectedAwards” as blank; because this is an NOI rather than the actual FOA, those fields may be placeholders or incomplete and should not be treated as reliable indicators of eventual funding levels or award counts.

Key dates and identifiers in the notice record include a creation date of July 12, 2023, an original closing date shown as October 17, 2023, and the funding opportunity number displayed as DE-FOA-0003013 in the source data, while the narrative states the NOI is to issue FOA DE-FOA-0003014. The most important practical takeaway is that this document is a heads-up about an upcoming solicitation focused on basin-scale carbon transport and storage deployment and community engagement, and that application materials are not being accepted until DOE releases the official FOA with finalized scope, budget, eligibility details, and submission instructions.

• The National Energy Technology Laboratory in the energy, environment sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent (NOI) related to Regional Initiative for Technical Assistance Partnerships (RITAP) to Advance Deployment of Basin-Scale Carbon Transport and Storage and Community Engagement" 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 2023-07-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-10-17. (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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