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

Summary

Under the broader CCUS RD&D call, this focus area aims to support the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of CO₂ utilization technologies that have the potential to significantly and meaningfully reduce the costs, as well as the energy and carbon intensity, of CO₂ conversion and utilization into viable products and commodities for long-term or permanent sequestration of CO₂ at a large scale.

This may be achieved through design of new and novel processes; development of advanced low-cost materials; improvement in process intensification and energy efficiency; and/or permanence of CO₂ sequestration.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

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.

The CCUS RD&D Utilization Focus Area call has two phases.

Expression of Interest 

To apply to the CCUS RD&D Utilization 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 4:00pm MST on February 23, 2024. 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 Utilization Focus Area is open to R&D projects (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 3.5 years. Funds range $250k - $2,000,000

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.