Officials dedicate Wyoming Integrated Test Center for carbon-capture technologies

A dedication ceremony was recently held for the Wyoming Integrated Test Center (ITC), where researchers can explore carbon capture, utilization and sequestration technologies for coal-fired power plants.

The project launched in 2015 with the Wyoming State Legislature’s approval of $15 million for the design, construction, and operation of the Wyoming ITC. Private partners contributed $5 million. Located at Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Dry Fork Station near Gillette, the center is just the second in the country that allows for real-time testing of technology at an active power plant.

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, sent a letter of congratulation to Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead upon the ITC’s dedication, calling the facility “the future of energy technology.”

“Today’s dedication demonstrates Wyoming’s leadership — not just in the United States but internationally — in supporting innovative carbon capture and utilization technologies,” Barrasso wrote. “These technologies will allow researchers to create new markets and bring new economic prosperity by transforming carbon dioxide into useful products.”

ITC will provide a “valuable forum” for innovators to test new technologies that hold the potential to turn carbon dioxide into marketable products, Barrasso continued, and “by utilizing flue gas from the Dry Fork Station, researchers are able to test new technologies in realistic conditions.”