The Wyoming Energy Authority has recommended Gov. Mark Gordon award a combined $37.5 million to support six energy projects, including coal-to-hydrogen and carbon capture proposals.

To pay for the initiatives, Gordon would tap a $150 million pot of Wyoming taxpayer money that the Legislature established in 2022 and set aside for the governor to spend at his discretion. The Wyoming Energy Authority, which screens proposals for the Energy Matching Funds program, is accepting public comment on the projects through Sunday.

The agency is looking for both technical input and comments regarding the merits of each project, according to spokesperson Honora Kerr. None of the six recommended applications include renewable energy proposals that don’t involve fossil fuels.

Summaries of the six projects can be viewed at the Wyoming Energy Authority’s website, and comments can be submitted to wea@wyo.gov.

Wyoming utility Black Hills Energy and natural gas pipeline giant Williams Companies are among the six private firms to potentially receive state matching funds. The state’s $37.5 million investment would leverage a total $120 million in federal and private funding, according to the Wyoming Energy Authority.

Gordon approved Energy Matching Funds appropriations for two other energy projects earlier this year: $9.1 million for the Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub in southwest Wyoming, and $10 million for a “nuclear microreactor” effort to assess the manufacture and deployment of small-scale nuclear reactors in the state and beyond.

The aim of the Energy Matching Funds program is to give Wyoming-based clean- and low-carbon energy projects a competitive edge by providing matching funds needed to land federal dollars available via the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, according to the energy authority.

Recommended projects

The Wyoming Energy Authority compiles and updates questions and answers about project proposals to this spreadsheet. Here’s a brief description of each of the six energy projects.

• Black Hills Energy and Wyodak Resources Development Corporation’s “BrightLoop – CCS Demonstration Plant: Converting Wyoming PRB Coal to Hydrogen“; $15,995,451 in two phases of funding.

• Cowboy Clean Fuels, LLC’s “Triangle Unit Carbon Capture and Storage Project“: $7,792,653.

• Flowstate Solutions’ “CO2 and Hydrogen Pipeline Safety: AI-Driven Leak Detection“: $2,000,000.

• Membrane Technology and Research, Inc.’s partnership with the Department of Energy for carbon capture and storage efforts at Basin Electric’s Dry Fork Station: $8,000,000.

• The University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources “Integration of Produced Water Thermal Desalination and Steam Methane Reforming for Efficient Hydrogen Production“: $2,750,000.

• Williams Companies, Inc.’s “Echo Springs CarbonSAFE Storage Complex Feasibility Study:” $975,000.

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