Basin Electric employee participates on carbon capture panel

The 2022 Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership Annual Meeting, was held May 24-25 in Anchorage, Alaska. During the conference, Tyler Hamman, Basin Electric vice president of government relations, participated in a panel discussion about how carbon capture utilization and sequestration (CCUS) supports existing energy infrastructure. PCOR is led by the Energy and Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota (EERC), with support from the University of Wyoming and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is funded by the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, the North Dakota Industrial Commission, and industry partners. The goal of the organization is to evaluate CCUS technologies and regional storage potential across ten states and four Canadian provinces.

During the panel, Hamman discussed the work being done at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center (ITC) at Basin Electric’s Dry Fork Station and the new Great Plains Sequestration Project under construction at Basin Electric’s subsidiary Dakota Gasification Company to capture additional CO2 from the Great Plains Synfuels Plant. The panel also talked about current policy proposals to further incentivize carbon capture technology, such as the option for direct pay of energy tax credits, particularly 45Q. Other participants on the panel were  Stacey Dahl, Minnkota Power Cooperative; Simon O’Brien, Shell; Kyle Quackenbush, Tallgrass Energy; and moderator Charlie Gorecki of EERC.

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Basin Electric Vice President of Government Relations Tyler Hamman, far right, and other panelists discuss carbon capture utilization and sequestration at the PCOR Partnership Annual Meeting.

“Basin Electric has 20 years of experience and knowledge gained in carbon dioxide capture through Dakota Gasification Company’s Great Plains Synfuels Plant. That project was the first commercial-scale project to capture carbon dioxide from a coal facility and transport it for beneficial use,” Hamman says. “Participation in the PCOR Partnership helps Basin Electric identify and evaluate potential options for CCUS on power generation as we explore all technologies to continue reducing emissions while generating reliable and affordable electricity. If proven to be cost-effective, CCUS provides a potential pathway to reduce risk to our coal and natural gas generation in a carbon-constrained future.”