With the finalization of a lease and operating agreement, the Wyoming Integrated Test Center is one step closer to becoming a reality, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority announced Monday. The test center, a state government-sponsored endeavor supporting research into carbon utilization, will be built and operated by the WIA at Basin Electric’s Dry Fork Station power plant. “Basin Electric has been an invaluable teammate for the State of Wyoming and their Dry Fork Station in the heart of coal country is a perfect host site for the ITC,” Jason Begger, executive director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, said in a press release.
Under the new agreement, the ITC will lease a site at the Dry Fork Station for a total of 10 years. The first eight years of the lease will be designated for research. The final two years will be used for reclamation of the site, the release explains.
When completed, the test center will have six demonstration sites supplied with flue gas, power, and service water from the Dry Fork Station. These sites will be available for lease by research teams looking into innovative uses of carbon.
Construction on the site started in late April. The ITC is expected to be completed in early October 2017 and has already secured its first research teams, finalists in an ongoing carbon utilization XPRIZE competition. Any test sites not filled by XPRIZE teams will be available for outside research groups. ITC stakeholders are finalizing a request for proposals to fill these sites. The RFP is expected to be released next month.
