The first commercial 'direct air capture' plant opened in Iceland in 2021, but a new plant in Louisiana called Project Cypress, designed to scale up carbon capture, faces funding uncertainty. Project Cypress aims to capture 1 million tons of CO2 annually, compared to Iceland's 4,000 tons. Despite plans for multiple DAC hubs under the Biden administration, leaked Department of Energy memos suggest potential funding cuts for Louisiana and Texas projects, raising concerns about the future of U.S. leadership in carbon management technology and the risks of private sector investments without DOE support.
"The whole point of the [DOE funding] is to step in when it's too risky for the private sector to do so... You've got to wonder who's going to take that risk on."
"Stolark sees a very real risk that the U.S. is ceding its leadership in the energy space. The U.S. spends the money on the research and development for a technology, and then we don't end up manufacturing or deploying the technology."
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