The U.S. Department of Energy is due to receive applications for a $2.25 billion funding opportunity to support carbon capture, utilization, and storage and carbon dioxide removal, the third opening of the Carbon Storage Validation and Testing program. The program, supported by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is designed to facilitate new and expanded carbon storage projects. Selectees will expand or develop projects through the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise initiative, each with a capacity to store over 50 million metric tons of CO2 over a 30-year period. READ MORE

The Bureau of Land Management will hold a public meeting to discuss a draft analysis of an update to its 2012 Western Solar Plan, which guides responsible solar energy development on public lands. The program currently includes six states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah – with high solar potential and low resource conflicts to ensure responsible solar deployment and provide certainty to developers. The updated roadmap refines the analysis of the six states and adds five new states: Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. The move follows a notice of intent issued in December 2022 to develop a programmatic environmental impact statement for the agency’s utility-scale solar energy planning. The bureau will hold another public meeting on Feb. 22 and a virtual meeting on March 6.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management seeks comments to prepare a regional environmental review of potential development activities on five offshore wind lease areas off California’s central and north coasts. The programmatic environmental impact statement will describe the potential impacts of wind energy development activities in the areas, as well as changes that could result from adopting programmatic mitigation measures. The agency will conduct subsequent site-specific analyses and consultations required under the National Environmental Policy Act for individual proposed projects as construction and operations plans for those projects are received. READ MORE

The U.S. Department of Energy will hold a webinar to discuss the second round of funding under its Transmission Facilitation Program, offering up to $1.2 billion in federal support to accelerate transmission buildout through capacity contracts. The program, a revolving fund supported by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is designed to help overcome financial hurdles facing large-scale new and upgraded transmission lines. In the first round held last year, the department entered into capacity contract negotiations for up to a total of $1.3 billion with three transmission lines crossing six states that are expected to add 3.5 gigawatts of additional grid capacity throughout the U.S. READ MORE

The Bureau of Land Management is due to receive comments on Pantheon Solar LLC’s proposal to construct and operate a 400-megawatt alternating current solar power and battery storage project in White Pine County, Nevada. The proposed project, which includes solar panels, battery energy storage, and associated infrastructure, would be built in a solar variance area on about 2,682 acres.

The Internal Revenue Service will hold a public hearing to discuss proposed regulations to implement the advanced manufacturing production credit established by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to incentivize the production of eligible components within the U.S. Eligible components include certain solar and wind energy components, inverters, qualifying battery components, and applicable critical minerals. READ MORE

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold a virtual public meeting to discuss a draft environmental impact statement for additional site assessment activities for Beacon Wind LLC’s proposal to construct two wind energy facilities offshore Massachusetts with a total capacity of at least 2,430 megawatts. An additional meeting will be held on Feb. 28.

The Bureau of Land Management is due to receive comments for the preparation of a draft environmental impact statement for NextEra Energy Resources LLC’s proposal to construct a 200-megawatt solar power and battery storage project in Washoe County, Nevada. The proposed Dodge Flat II Solar Project would be located on about 700 acres of public land and 1,041 acres of private land.