Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions  -  November 22, 2023

University of Wyoming Chosen for CarbonSAFE Project

The University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources (SER) was chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to lead a fourth major carbon capture and storage project.

The project was selected under the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative.

The $11.2 million Williams Echo Springs CarbonSAFE project seeks to conduct a storage complex feasibility study to develop a saline carbon dioxide (CO2) storage hub for current and future industries in the Echo Springs area of south-central Wyoming.

The project will be conducted in collaboration with Williams, a midstream natural gas company.

The two-year study plans to permit and drill a deep stratigraphic test well and interpret the resulting data, models and documents for further site development.

The study is expected to confirm which of the six stacked formations at Echo Springs can safely, securely and economically store at least 50 million metric tons of CO2 indefinitely. The project also plans to leverage a viable CO2 source and the existing pipeline transportation infrastructure in the region to prove its viability.

“We look forward to working on this project with great partners such as Williams,” says Charles Nye, an SER research scientist and co-principal investigator, in a statement. “Wyoming has hosted some of the most promising carbon capture and storage projects, and it will be a pleasure to work with a company that also is a forerunner in emerging technologies in the energy industry."

Researchers in SER’s Center for Economic Geology Research (CEGR) currently lead the Wyoming CarbonSAFE project at Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Dry Fork Station in the Powder River Basin, the HERO Basalt CarbonSAFE project using Wyoming-sourced natural gas in Hermiston, Oregon, and the Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub in southwest Wyoming.

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