Federal Grant Advances Research on Carbon Storage

A carbon storage research project in Wyoming received a step forward with a $15.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative, which supplies electricity to Colorado co-op power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources and other partners are developing a site near Basin’s Dry Fork Station and the Wyoming Integrated Test Center to store over 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide underground. The project is working to mitigate CO2 emission from the consumption of fossil fuels.

This has been a long process, according to project manager Scott Quillinan, and has demonstrated the feasibility of safely, permanently and economically storing CO2. Now the project is moving into final testing before pursuing commercialization and construction.