UW’s SER Updates Survey on Wyoming Residents’ Acceptance for Energy Development

An updated survey from the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources (SER) explores Wyoming residents’ perspectives of energy development, including “social license” — the level in which Cowboy State residents support or oppose different forms and amounts of energy development.

The research is a companion document to the original study that was conducted in 2020 in collaboration with UW’s Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources.

The study provides a summary of Wyoming residents’ values and beliefs related to energy in Wyoming. The research was led by Jessica Western, an adjunct professor in the UW Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, and Selena Gerace, an SER associate research scientist. It was supported by the Plains CO₂ Reduction Initiative and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Intermountain West Energy Sustainability and Transitions initiative.

The survey covers energy development topics, including legacy fossil fuel industries; utility-scale renewable projects; hydrogen generation; carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS); and novel industries in Wyoming, such as rare earth element and critical mineral mining.

“Since we initiated this research in 2020, there have been more advancements in different energy technologies — including the announcement of the TerraPower natrium plant in Kemmerer — and various, large-scale direct air capture and CCUS projects,” Gerace says. “It is important for us to monitor how Wyoming residents’ views have changed, if at all, regarding traditional energy sources and explore perspectives regarding these new energy types to identify gaps where we could provide more outreach and education.”

The survey’s identified findings will serve as a useful resource for industries to guide stakeholder engagement regarding areas of uncertainty in energy project development, as well as a tool for Wyoming citizens to understand what types of energy development projects are available in the state.

According to Scott Quillinan, SER’s senior director of research, the survey results show the overall energy IQ of Wyoming residents and that, while many of the respondents were knowledgeable about developments in the energy sector, there are understandably areas of uncertainty in relation to the latest technological advancements.

“In the span of two short years, things such as hydrogen were just being talked about as possibilities. Now, we are seeing a real shift to make these new technologies a reality, and there has been major growth in implementing them to help drive Wyoming’s economy,” Quillinan says. “At SER, we strive to make sure that we are doing our best to educate the Wyoming public so that, when decisions are being made, residents have the best information possible on how a type of technology could help or challenge the goals and economy of the community.”

While the initial survey results are helpful in identifying the current sentiments related to energy development in Wyoming, the next critical step is understanding why. The research team is now developing a further analysis by conducting a series of interviews with Wyoming residents to better understand the reasons behind their thoughts, beliefs and values.

The full survey results can be downloaded from SER’s Center for Energy Regulation and Policy Analysis webpage here.

University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources Submits Letter of Intent for Regional Direct Air Capture Hub

The proposed project intends to follow a conservative timeline and will complement other regional proposals

The University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources (SER), together with the Wyoming Business Council (WBC), announced today that it has submitted a Letter of Intent to submit a proposal for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Four Regional Clean Direct Air Capture Hubs program, part of the Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act. The Letter of Intent outlines a deliberate and market-driven approach to understanding the feasibility of a Wyoming Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hub Pilot-Center; the application is intended to pursue the most conservative timeline made available by the DOE.

The direct air capture (DAC) industry represents an opportunity to help solve pressing economic challenges in Wyoming while utilizing the state’s extensive energy infrastructure knowledge built on a proud legacy of powering the nation. Last November, SER and WBC released a Request for Expression of Interest to solicit input from key stakeholders on direct air capture activities and initiatives in Wyoming. This process informed the inter-agency collaborative to pursue a Topic Area-1 (TA-1) Feasibility track to address several challenges to enable DAC industry growth, including clean energy, early technology readiness, long-term market uncertainty, and community integration.

“All new industries come with big challenges in the beginning,” said Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Chief Strategy Officer at the Wyoming Business Council. “By helping us answer the most fundamental questions around DAC industry development, we believe a conservative TA-1 application will help enable us to have a broad and underpinning impact on overall industry growth and help us understand how the DAC industry could benefit Wyoming and the region.”

The proposed project aims to derisk commercial projects in Wyoming in the direct air capture market. By providing important regional information and investing in longer-term projects, SER and WBC’s proposal complements more accelerated projects and DAC activities in the area. 

The Wyoming team plans to work with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to complete deliverables under the award.

The full proposal is due to the DOE by March 13, 2023, at which point it will be available to read.

About the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources

The School of Energy Resources (SER) at the University of Wyoming collaborates with state, national, and international stakeholders to advance energy technologies and policies to grow and support Wyoming’s robust energy sector. SER’s mission is to promote energy-driven economic development for the state of Wyoming. It leads the University of Wyoming’s talent and resources for interdisciplinary research and outreach, fulfilling Wyoming’s promise to be a global leader in a thriving and sustainable energy future.

About the Wyoming Business Council

Through leadership, policy, and investments, the Wyoming Business Council stands firmly upon Wyoming’s heritage while advancing innovation, business creation, recruitment, and growth to build resilient communities and create opportunities to thrive. We envision a future where traditional Wyoming values and innovation go hand-in-hand to create opportunities so communities can confidently withstand economic uncertainties and continue to thrive for generations to come.

UW’s SER and Energy Vault Launch $5,000 Graduate Student Research Competition

The University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources (SER) and energy storage technology company Energy Vault are collaborating on a $5,000 student research competition.

The Energy Vault Student Competition is designed to identify potential new methods of hydrogen storage and to provide examples of current research or companies exploring such methods. The competition is open to any UW graduate student or graduate student teams.

“Hydrogen storage is a key factor to enable the growth and continued advancement in the overall hydrogen economy,” says Energy Vault Chief Product Officer Marco Terruzzin. “Although hydrogen has a high energy density per mass relative to other fuel sources, it is an ultralight gas that results in low density at normal atmospheric pressure.

“Today, hydrogen is stored as a gas or a liquid in high-pressure tanks; each method presents its own pros and cons. We hope that the student competition will motivate some of the university’s bright minds to maximize the efficacy of existing storage technologies for hydrogen or to completely revolutionize the current systems,” Terruzzin says.

Scott Quillinan, SER senior director of research, agrees that the topic is both timely and relevant to current research being conducted on a national scale.

“Hydrogen has the ability to store energy for long periods, months or over seasons without energy loss,” Quillinan says. “In contrast, batteries require periodic recharging even without use. Energy storage is needed to help meet electric supply peak demands and to improve reliability.”

Students entering the competition will have nearly eight weeks to conduct research on the topic, prepare a summary of their findings and an accompanying PowerPoint presentation. At the conclusion of the competition, students will provide a 20-minute presentation to representatives of Energy Vault where a winner will be selected.

The entire $5,000 prize purse will go to the top individual or team.

An informational kick-off session for the competition will be held virtually Monday, Feb. 20, to answer questions. The event will be recorded and posted to the competition webpage for students unable to participate in the live session. To receive the Zoom link, email Christine Reed, SER outreach director, at christine.reed@uwyo.edu.

Students wishing to participate in the competition should email krussow@uwyo.edu no later than Wednesday, March 15.

For more information, registration, deadlines and inquiries, visit the competition webpage at www.uwyo.edu/ser/events/competitions/energy-vault.html.

About Energy Vault

Energy Vault is an energy storage technology provider and system integrator with a product portfolio spanning short- and long-duration applications. Specializing in utility-scale projects, the company’s primary customers include electrical utility companies, independent power producers and large industrial energy consumers. Energy Vault’s mission is to identify, develop and bring to market the most advanced, sustainable and economic energy storage products and integrated project solutions.

Global Energy Executive to Speak at UW Feb. 23-24

Harold “Skip” York, senior vice president and chief energy strategist for Turner, Mason & Co., will speak at multiple events at the University of Wyoming College of Business and the School of Energy Resources (SER) Thursday and Friday, Feb. 23-24.

Interested students, members of the campus community and the public are invited to hear York speak at the SER Distinguished Speaker Series lunch presentation from noon-1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in the UW Energy Innovation Center’s Encana Auditorium. He also will speak to UW students about energy economics and corporate strategies in an era of energy transformation, innovation and uncertainty.

An accomplished energy business professional and UW alumnus originally from Cheyenne, York has an extensive resume in advising global corporations on strategy formulation, competitiveness, multibillion-dollar mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.

In his current position, he is responsible for looking at strategic directions in the energy industry, with specific expertise in global oil and gas asset portfolio optimization and developing viable business models for new energy companies.

“We are so fortunate to have someone of Mr. York’s caliber on campus to speak about his experiences,” says Ben Cook, senior assistant dean of the UW College of Business. “Energy is a major driving factor in our state and, by providing an economic perspective, Skip will help students become more attuned to the financial implications and opportunities of current and future scenarios in natural resource development.”

York graduated from UW in 1986 with a degree in economics, and he holds a Ph.D. in the same field from the University of Virginia. Before his current role, he was recently the head of commodity strategy-petroleum for BHP. He has additional industry experience with ExxonMobil and management consulting with McKinsey & Co., Charles River Associates and Wood Mackenzie.

York has been deeply invested in his Wyoming roots, supporting multiple scholarships for students in both the College of Business and SER, as well as being a guest lecturer and mentor.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for current students on campus to see all that can be accomplished with a degree from the University of Wyoming,” says Teddi Freedman, a director of development for the UW Foundation. “Mr. York has had a tremendous career at the intersection of energy and business and continues to provide outstanding support to his alma mater through his and his wife’s philanthropy. We are honored to host him once again to campus and are grateful for his continued engagement with up-and-coming UW graduates.”

SER’s Koski Recognized as ‘Top Prof’ by UW Mortar Board Chapter

Kris Koski of the School of Energy Resources (SER) was named among the ‘Top Profs’ by the Mortar Board Chapter at the University of Wyoming.

Mortar Board is the premier national honor society recognizing college seniors for outstanding achievement in scholarship, leadership and service. Mortar Board provides opportunities for continued leadership development; promotes service to colleges and universities; and encourages lifelong contributions to the global community.

Chartered in 1933, the UW Cap and Gown Chapter of Mortar Board members participate in many projects and activities throughout the year, both on the UW campus and in the Laramie community.

‘Top Prof’ is a student driven selection process in which members of the Cap and Gown Chapter of Mortar Board select professors who have positively influenced their lives at UW. These professors go beyond normal classroom expectations to help their students succeed.

Nominated by Energy Resource Management and Development (ERMD) senior and Mortar Board chapter member Molly Murnane of Crofton, Md., Koski was honored among other ‘Top Profs’ at the annual recognition dinner last week.

“I nominated Professor Koski because he cares about his students and encourages us all to succeed — even in his challenging legal classes,” says Murnane. “He brings in real world situations, applies them to the concepts we are learning and ensures we develop critical thinking skills. He is an amazing professor and a real inspiration for anyone interested in land work or legal work. He has inspired me to become a lawyer. I can only hope that one day I will be as confident and knowledgeable of a lawyer as he is.”

Murnane is poised to graduate as a top scholar in spring 2023 with a Bachelor of Science degree in ERMD with a concentration in Energy and Environmental Systems, as well as minors in math and the Honors Program. Motivated from the beginning of her academic career, Murnane landed a coveted, funded research position with the Laughlin Lab on campus through the Wyoming Research Scholars Program (WRSP) as a sophomore. She gained valuable experience as an intern with Disa Technologies in Casper, Wyo., and is currently working on a project for the Nuclear Energy Research Center.  

In addition to advancing her own education and career, Murnane has been extremely active in mentoring others in the ERMD program, serving as an academic tutor. She also volunteers with the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

Koski is an associate lecturer and the director of the Professional Land Management program in SER. A Wyoming attorney, Koski brings his expertise in oil and gas, natural resources, and property law to the classroom, guiding students to successful careers in land management and beyond.

“It is an honor and quite humbling to be nominated, but really all of the credit goes to Molly,” says Koski. “Only the top of the top students, who have demonstrated not only excellence in the classroom but significant service to the community, get selected to the Mortar Board. She is such a brilliant, hardworking and thoughtful student. Working with Molly, and our other students in the program, makes teaching an absolute joy. I am very excited to track Molly’s career because she is going to make a tremendous, positive impact wherever she ends up. I’d also like to congratulate all students who made the Mortar Board and the diverse and outstanding faculty who they selected.” 

UW Receives DOE Funding for HERO Basalt CarbonSAFE Project in Pacific Northwest

The University of Wyoming will receive $10.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a research and development project advancing the wide-scale deployment of carbon management technologies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) pollution.

Researchers in the UW School of Energy Resources (SER) Center for Economic Geology Research (CEGR) will lead the HERO Basalt CarbonSAFE (Hermiston Oregon Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise) project in partnership with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (Oxy), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Calpine to accelerate the scale-up and deployment of commercial CO₂ storage in basaltic rocks at a storage complex near Hermiston, Ore.

The project is one of 11 that DOE is funding under Phase II-Storage Complex Feasibility of the CarbonSAFE Initiative, which focuses on developing geologic storage sites with the potential to cumulatively store 50 million or more metric tons of CO₂, and is one of 33 projects benefiting from DOE’s recently announced $131 million investment into carbon management solutions.

“Not only does this project allow us to leverage our existing expertise related to carbon storage technology that we have cultivated over the past 20 years, but it also is an exciting opportunity for us to explore a new storage reservoir formation and expand our knowledge,” says CEGR Director Fred McLaughlin.

The two-year feasibility study will include drilling a test well for the collection of data from these formations; obtaining and analyzing geologic samples; using the results of the analyses to create geologic computer models in which to test storage scenarios; and assessing societal and environmental impacts of the carbon storage at the site. The project also will assess capturing CO₂ from Calpine’s Hermiston Power Project, one of the region’s cleanest and most efficient natural-gas power stations.

Additional collaborators on the project include Schlumberger and Carbfix, a company that has successfully demonstrated CO₂ mineralization on a commercial scale in Iceland.

“We are excited to collaborate with the University of Wyoming and its partners to further explore how geological properties contribute to the safe and secure storage of carbon dioxide,” says Jeff Alvarez, president of Oxy Low Carbon Ventures-Sequestration. “Our goal is to learn more about the mineralization process that occurs after carbon dioxide injection, which could expand carbon capture and storage (CCS) development into new areas.”

“We’re very excited to work with this outstanding team of partners to build on what we learned at Wallula a decade ago,” says Todd Schaef, of PNNL, one of the world’s leading researchers in basalt mineralization storage. “This project will provide essential characterization data needed for reservoir simulations that allow us to understand how CO₂ mineralizes basalts here in the Pacific Northwest and around the world.”

A nationally recognized leader on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology, SER is working on a CarbonSAFE Phase III-Site Characterization and CO₂ Capture Assessment project located adjacent to Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Dry Fork Station, a coal-fired power plant near Gillette. With two completed test wells drilled to Class VI standards (required for CO₂ storage), the team has fully characterized three targeted storage formations: the Minnelusa Formation, Hulett Sandstone and Lakota Sandstone.

The Pacific Northwest is a key market for Wyoming-sourced natural gas. The Northwest Pipeline that connects Wyoming natural gas resources to Washington and Oregon has over 14 million dekatherms of capacity. However, using that gas in a way that is consistent with regulatory requirements in Washington and Oregon will likely mean capturing and storing CO₂ emissions from gas plants such as Hermiston.

“With few large, sedimentary reservoirs for commercial-scale carbon storage available, unlocking the storage potential of our regional basalt reservoirs will help make CCS available to meet net-zero targets in the Pacific Northwest,” Schaef says.

Scott Quillinan, SER’s senior director of research, says the new project has the potential to support the decarbonization of Wyoming’s natural gas industry and to demonstrate the versatility and enhanced opportunities for CCUS deployment in different regions.

“This project differs from our previous and current CCUS efforts, in that it will focus on natural gas-sourced CO₂ and will allow us to learn about new types of carbon storage reservoirs that offer the highest potential for CO₂ storage in the Pacific Northwest,” he says. “The fluid-rock interactions in basalt formations have demonstrated the capability to mineralize or rapidly convert the CO₂ into a solid mineral over a period of time. This project will accelerate and enable the scale-up of CO₂ storage through mineralization in basalt reservoirs, and we look forward to collaborating with Oxy and PNNL to further the understanding of this potential resource.”

By using existing infrastructure, including the interstate natural gas pipeline network, the project will serve as a critical resource for regional energy producers to implement commercial-scale carbon storage and achieve carbon reduction targets.

“The team at SER has set the bar on CO₂ storage in Wyoming,” says SER Executive Director Holly Krutka. “Given Wyoming’s role as a massive energy exporter, SER now has the opportunity to apply what we’ve learned in the state and expand our work to assist our natural gas producers by providing a CO₂ storage solution where their gas is ultimately consumed.”