NRCan Energy Innovation Program – Carbon Capture, Utilization, And Storage (CCUS) Research, Development, And Demonstration (RD&D) Call

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include:

• Legal entities validly incorporated or registered in Canada, including:
• For-profit and not-for-profit organizations such as electricity and gas utilities, electricity system operators, transmissions owners and operators, companies, industry associations, research associations, and standards organizations
• Indigenous organizations and groups
• Community groups
• Canadian academic institutions
• Provincial, territorial, regional, and municipal governments and their departments and agencies where applicable

Eligible projects include:

Technology Development – Research and Development (R&D) or Demonstration (Demo)
R&D or Demo projects focused on the development of technology solutions that serve the following priorities:

1. Understanding and characterization of injectivity and capacity of existing reservoirs
2. Optimization of measurement, monitoring, and verification of transportation infrastructure and injected CO₂, including for leak detection, next-generation seismic risk forecasting, and site-specific risk identification including well integrity, sub-surface CO₂ migration, cap rock integrity, and ground water impacts
3. CO₂ transportation and injection, including CO₂ stream specifications, mitigation of the impact of impurities for reducing corrosion or embrittlement in pipelines, well casings, and other storage related applications to prevent CO₂ leakage from geological storage, and for more efficiently compressing CO₂ for transportation and injection
4. Conversion of existing infrastructure (e.g. wells, pipelines) for CO₂ transport and sequestration

Technology development related projects must be advancing pre-commercial technologies between Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2 to 7. TRL definitions can be found in Appendix A.

Characterization and Enabling Activities – Related Science Activities (RSA)
RSA focused on:

1. Characterization of new storage opportunities, including development of methods for high resolution characterization from surface or sub-surface (improved characterization of faults and fractures)
2. Identification and quantification studies of potential conventional, unconventional, or non-geological CO₂ storage, including mapping of pore space at a regional level, characterization of pore space, pore space injectivity and cap rock integrity, and identification of potential storage hubs
3. Development of conventional or unconventional storage opportunities, including saline aquifers, olivine-rich rocks or basalt, shallow storage, and other novel storage opportunities
4. Research on subsurface geomechanics, geochemistry, or dynamics within geologic formations to understand subsurface CO₂ temporal behaviour, interactions, and CO₂ mineralization; to maximize reservoir capacity; and to increase confidence in plume immobilization and dynamic pressure limits
5. Research on applications and viability of marine, rail, or pipeline transport in select scenarios
6. Applications of novel computational techniques to subsurface modelling for reservoir management, real-time decision making (AI-ML) to reduce the cost and time requirement for reservoir characterization, streamline site selection process, and improve seismic modelling

Preferred projects are those that:

1. Enable permanent storage of CO₂ (storage hubs/reservoir development) near key industrial areas that do not have storage capacity available
2. Explore storage opportunities in regions that are not yet well characterized
3. Enable planning of CO₂ transportation and storage hubs
4. Support knowledge generation that informs and/or directly supports development of regulatory frameworks and codes and standards

Ineligible projects are those that:

1. Are substantially for the installation of CO₂ transportation pipelines and are lacking a clear innovation component
2. Advance exploration, mapping, or characterization of oil, gas, and/or other resources such as minerals or metals that are not specifically related to permanent storage of CO₂
3. Advance characterization or development of technology/techniques that advance non-permanent storage, including Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
4. Replicate operating commercial CCUS facilities

Summary

The CCUS RD&D Storage and Transportation focus area aims to support the RD&D of CO₂ storage and transportation technologies as well as related scientific activities that advance and enable the characterization and development of safe, cost-effective, and permanent geological storage of CO₂, and the development of technologies that support safe and efficient transportation of CO₂ across Canada. This focus area also expects to support activities that enable planning and development of CO₂ storage and transportation hubs, address technical, scientific, or social license barriers to CO₂ storage and transportation, as well as generate knowledge to support development of regulatory frameworks and codes and standards.

This may be achieved through development of technologies, techniques, standards, specifications, and tools for: CO₂ storage, transportation, site characterization, improved safety, effectiveness, and efficiency in CO₂ transportation and injection, plume detection and other related measurements, monitoring, and verification for permanent CO₂ storage, and leak detection of stored CO₂. It can also be achieved through characterization of potential storage reservoirs, research into the mechanics and behaviour of CO₂ injection and sub-surface storage.

The CCUS RD&D Storage and Transportation call has two phases.

Expression of Interest 

To apply to the CCUS RD&D Storage and Transportation focus area, applicants must complete and submit their expression of interest (EOI) application via email to NRCan (EIP-CCUS.PIE-CUSC@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca) by 11:59pm ET on April 17, 2023. The EOI application template (fillable PDF format) can be downloaded from NRCan’s website. 

As the EOI is a competitive stage with evaluation, applicants must complete the RMS record and submit for internal approvals in addition to submitting via NRCan.

More than one expression of interest can be submitted per organization for the CCUS RD&D, provided that each submission is for a unique project. Organizations cannot submit multiple expressions of interest for the same project.

Full Project Proposal 

Applicants that are invited to the full project proposal (FPP) phase will be notified by NRCan, and will receive information on the submission requirements and the timelines.

Funds available 

The CCUS RD&D Storage and Transportation focus area is open to R&D projects and RSA (comprising up to 75% of total project costs) and Demo projects (comprising up to 50% of total project costs), over a period of up to four years. Funds range $500k - $10,000,000

Prior to signing contribution agreements, on an annual basis, and upon project completion, applicants will be required to disclose all sources of funding on individual projects, including contributions from other federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal governments and industry sources.

Collaboration and leveraging are strongly encouraged for all program components, and these will be included among the selection criteria.

Stacking of funding (i.e. total government support for a project) will be supported to a maximum of 100% of eligible expenditures. Preference will be given to projects that leverage funding from non-government sources.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

Application deadlines

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.