US President Joe Biden has signed into law one of his flagship policy initiatives, the US$1.2 trillion “Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal”. Parts of the package relate to the energy sector, including:

• US$937 million for large-scale carbon capture pilot projects, and US$2.54 billion for demonstration projects
• A US$2.1 billion Carbon Dioxide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program to provide finance for carbon dioxide transportation infrastructure projects and grants for initial excess capacity on new infrastructure
• US$2.5 billion for carbon storage validation and testing for large-scale sequestration projects
• US$8 billion to establish four regional clean hydrogen hubs – these will connect clean energy producers and potential consumers
• US$500 million for research, development and deployment of clean hydrogen projects
• US$21 billion for environmental remediation (including capping abandoned oil and gas wells)
• US$550 million for cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response projects
• Tens of billions for grid modernisation, such as new ‘resilient’ transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy and to cope with extreme weather – it also includes investing in research and development for advanced transmission and electricity distribution technologies, and promoting smart grid technologies
• Other funding for energy efficiency and data collection projects, as well as nuclear, hydropower and other renewables

Coming in the wake of the COP26 summit, the timing of the passing of the package is welcome, with a great variety of large-scale spending on the various projects.