The U.S. Department of Energy has spent $1.1 billion on 11 carbon capture projects at coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities since 2009, most of which turned out to be failures and were never built, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a recent report . The Department of Energy provided almost $684 million to eight projects for carbon capture at coal plants, only one of which resulted in an operational facility, the GAO found. Three projects, including two prior to receiving funding, were withdrawn, and one was built and entered operations, but halted operations in 2020 due to changing economic conditions. The DOE terminated funding agreements with the other four projects prior to construction. “Project documentation indicated and DOE officials and project representatives told GAO that economic factors—including decreased natural gas prices and uncertainty regarding carbon markets—negatively affected the economic viability of coal power plants and thus […]