Carbon Capture Pilot at Dry Fork Power Station
Contract Number: DE-CD0000054
Project Description
The goal of this project is to design, secure permits for, build, and operate a large-scale, sorbent-based, carbon capture system (CCS) pilot at a coal fired power generation facility. The project is organized into 4 distinct phases with go/no-go decision points between each phase. Over the course of the entire project, we plan to design (Phase 1), secure permits (Phase 2), build (Phase 3), and operate (Phase 4) a large-scale CCS pilot at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center (ITC) site located adjacent the Dry Fork Power Station located near Gillette, WY. The proposed large-scale CCS pilot system will separate carbon from a slipstream of the Dry Fork Station flue gas and validate the carbon capture efficiency at >90% (threshold) and >95% (objective) with a CO2 product purity > 95% under actual exhaust gas conditions.
In Phase I, the only portion of the project current funded, TDA and its partners will complete a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a commercial-scale, advanced carbon capture system capable of processing up to 23 MW (roughly 200,000 MTPY) net CO2 with 90+% carbon capture efficiency and 95+% CO2 purity. The host site, the Wyoming ITC, is situated adjacent to Basin Electric’s Dry Fork Station power generating facility. Dry Fork Station is a coal-fired power plant rated at roughly 405 MW (net) that currently releases roughly 2.7 million MTPY of CO2. In later project phases, we plan to pursue permitting, construct, and test the pilot-scale CCS unit at Wyoming ITC’s large test bay. The test bay has been designed and constructed specifically to facilitate large-scale demonstrations up to roughly the 23 MWe scale. You can find more info here
CBP Summary
TDA is strongly committed to community engagement and community benefits and will work with the University of Wyoming’s (UW) School of Energy Resources (SER) to ensure the project benefits the community. SER is committed to cultivating relationships with key stakeholders to increase collaborative engagement with historically underserved stakeholder groups. Our goal is to create a two-way conversation with local stakeholders including neighboring communities, labor unions and workforce organizations. TDA is dedicated to attracting and maintaining a skilled and well-qualified workforce for the design, construction and operation of the carbon capture pilot plant. In addition, we will employ and mentor college and high school interns, hold seminars at local schools, and support early-career underrepresented engineers and scientists so that we can increase the number of underrepresented STEM candidates (women, minorities, etc.) available in the labor pool. Finally, we want to ensure that benefits of federal investments flow to local or disadvantaged communities and that no environmental impact should negatively affect the local or any disadvantaged community.
Our Partners
- University of Wyoming (UWYO) School of Energy Resources (SER)
UWYO/SER will assist with Community Benefit activities. SER is committed to cultivating relationships with key stakeholders to increase collaborative engagement with historically underserved stakeholder groups
- GR2 Engineering
GR2 Engineering, a highly specialized Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) firm, will work with TDA to complete the design of balance of plant, manage the FEED tasks and specify the specialty equipment (e.g., valves, vacuum system) used in the carbon capture module.
- SLB
SLB will work with TDA to carry out a business case analysis and in the commercialization of the concept. SLB seeks to empower local teams by supporting societies and communities by understanding local impacts, aligning with local priorities and accelerating action.
- University of Colorado, Denver (UCD)
Dr. Arunprakash Karunanithi from the University of Colorado, Denver (UCD) will complete a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for the pilot-scale plant and the full-scale system.
- Wyoming ITC
WITC is the host site for the pilot project.
- BKS Environmental
Breda Schladweiler of BKS Environmental will provide NEPA consulting. NEPA stands for National Environmental Policy Act, which is a law that requires federal agencies to consider the environmental impact of their actions before making decisions.
- Ashok Rao, Consultant
Dr. Rao will assist with process design and Aspen simulations for the Techno-economic Analysis (TEA).
CBP Tasks
See each task below for more specific description, as well as the current progress of the task.
Goal Description
As part of the OCED Project DE-CD0000054, Carbon Capture Pilot at Dry Fork Power Station, TDA Research will implement their Community Benefits Plan (CBP) which will focus on providing benefits to the community in and near the project area outside of Gillette, Wyoming. CBP activities will include community outreach and engagement and workforce development programs. One method of community engagement is forming a Community Advisory Board to ensure the involvement of community representatives during the project.
The Community Advisory Board (CAB) will focus on providing benefits to the community in and near Gillette, Wyoming. The CAB’s overarching goal will be to enhance community engagement, and it serve as a platform for community voices by facilitating dialogue while helping TDA and the project team to better understand the local community needs. Specific goals of the CAB will include identifying the needs and priorities of the community, developing a community workforce plan, improving community outreach by sharing the CAB’s, and developing community engagement strategies.
TDA expects the initial CAB to consist of 6–8 members. To ensure a well-rounded representation of the community, the CAB should include at least one person from the following sectors: workforce development, emergency response, unions/labor, environmental organization, and residents of disadvantaged communities.
TDA initiated a CAB interest invitation at a public community benefits discussion held at the Campbell County Public library in Gillette, Wyoming on November 14, 2024. We plan to follow up on those responses and will also solicit recommendations for potential CAB members at upcoming 2025 community meetings and from potential stakeholders.
A full CAB Plan will be available soon. Are you interested in becoming a CAB member or want to nominate a CAB member? Contact us at communitybenefits@tda.com!
Goal Description
Engage community stakeholders. Hold community engagement events, meetings, and direct contact with local vendors and businesses. Establish networks of communication, feedback, and accountability, intending to increase local engagement and support for the project and CCS technology throughout the local community.
Current Progress
Goal Description
To increase the effectiveness of outreach and partnership building activities, team members (employees at TDA and partner companies) will be trained in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA). This training is expected to improve our effectiveness in efforts to diversify hiring and vendor selections.
All project team members have completed the following DEIA training. The specific training program was called “Diversity & Inclusion Training for Employees” and covered the benefits of inclusion and belonging, what gets in the way of an inclusive workplace, and what you can do to make your workplace more inclusive.
Sections of the course include:
- Introduction
- Benefits of inclusion and belonging
- Unconscious bias
- Microaggressions
- Our role
- Conclusion
To read the full report click here
Goal Description
Partner with minority serving institutions (MSI) and local colleges. Support the project to provide equal access pathways to employment for residents, especially from disadvantaged communities and those facing employment barriers. This includes workforce education (training for operations) by partnering with UW-SER, local community colleges such as Gillette College, or a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) such as Central Wyoming College to identify needed training programs. Building off union and workforce organization meetings to determine gaps in the available workforce, quality job metrics, and available apprenticeship programs, we will meet with MSIs and local colleges to ensure local training is available to fill these gaps.
Goal Description
Identify workforce needs and labor unions representing workers or trades that will be needed for construction, operations, and maintenance, and the occupational distribution, and skills or knowledge gaps that will need to be filled, and, if applicable, the training programs to fill those gaps.
Goal Description
Partnering with community stakeholders including community leaders, government officials, environmental justice organizations, tribal leaders, and other stakeholders for the Gillette, Wyoming area.
Goal Description
The goal of our CLE plan is to create a two-way engagement with neighboring communities, labor unions, and workforce organizations.
Click here to download the Social Characterization Assessment and Stakeholder Mapping file. Please email communitybenefits@tda.com with any feedback.
Goal Description
During the Phase 1 work, we will conduct outreach to tribes with a known cultural association with the area, acknowledging that this is an open process, and other tribes may express an interest in joining discussions at any time. This outreach is intended to explain the project in a way that will allow the tribes to determine if it will impact tribal interests and how we can strengthen collaboration and outreach as the project progresses through Phases 2–4.
Goal Description
Assess interest in Workforce and Community Agreements including a Community Benefits Agreement, Community Workforce Agreement, or a Project Labor Agreement depending on feedback from unions, workforce organizations, and the Gillette community.
Goal Description
We will host a listening session inviting community, labor, and workforce organizations to discuss the workforce needs for construction and operation and gauge interest in workforce and community agreements
Goal Description
Our goal is to increase the number of underrepresented STEM candidates (women, minorities, etc.) in the labor pool. Our approach is to inspire teens to follow STEM careers and to mentor students from underrepresented communities to pursue opportunities in STEM fields through college studies and vocational training.
Goal Description
Develop the job descriptions and promote the opportunities for internships under this CCS development project.
Goal Description
Ensure project construction and operations jobs are of sufficient quality to attract and retain a skilled workforce to deal with construction and operations staffing and workforce requirements. We will use the list of jobs developed in the technical project to determine the required education or training needed for these jobs. In addition, we will determine the types and level of investment needed for workforce education and training by comparing the existing workforce (particularly local residents, dislocated workers/workers from energy or industrial sectors, or workers from disadvantaged communities and populations) to needed workforce requirements
Goal Description
The Energy and Environmental Justice (EEJ) Assessment will assess pilot project impacts (environmental, economic, health, and other social benefits/impacts) and where they flow; identify impacted communities and groups; and identify disadvantaged communities. An Emissions and Effluent Study Report developed under the technical project will be published here to the CBP website. We will also summarize opportunities and risks related to EEJ in the project and describe how the project incorporates environmental and energy justice principles.
Goal Description
The EEJ Assessment will assess pilot project impacts (environmental, economic, health, and other social benefits/impacts) and where they flow; identify impacted communities and groups; and identify disadvantaged communities.
Goal Description
This task will perform an analysis of emissions products including gas phase emissions (including particulate matter) and water effluent and develop a plan to conduct baseline monitoring of relevant air and water pollutants during Phase 2. The Draft Emissions and Effluent Study Report and baseline monitoring plan developed in Task 7.4 will be published to the website in this task.
Goal Description
The J40I will summarize opportunities and risks related to EEJ in the project and describes how the project incorporates environmental and energy justice principles. This will include a timeline with milestones that maximize benefits and minimize disbenefits in disadvantaged and nearby communities, measuring and reporting project impacts, and a discussion of risks to successfully realizing benefits and minimizing disbenefits.
Goal Description
Complete the Phase 1 Community Benefits Summary Report in Late Phase 1 and publish here to the website.