School of Energy Resources Represented at 2022 Annual PCOR Meeting in Anchorage

 
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Members of the UW School of Energy Resources attended the 2022 Annual Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. SER research scientists Erin Phillips and Selena Gerace, who serve as the SER leads in the partnership, attended the meeting alongside Senior Director of Research, Scott Quillinan, Director of Outreach, Christine Reed, and SER’s Executive Director, Holly Krutka.

Led by the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota, the PCOR Partnership Initiative is one of four projects competitively awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory under the Regional Initiative to accelerate carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). The PCOR Initiative is supported by the University of Wyoming and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and includes stakeholders from the public and private sectors.

The partnership has been running for nineteen years, completing phases of characterization, validation, and demonstration of CCUS technology. The current phase of the partnership is focused on accelerating the commercial deployment of CCUS.

As a way of accomplishing these goals, the annual meeting is designed for the regional partners to come together, learn from each other, gain new perspectives, anticipate upcoming challenges and develop new solutions to advance the deployment of the technology sooner and on a wider scale. Additionally, it affords the group an opportunity to hear perspectives and guidance from DOE representatives on energy initiatives moving forward.

“The PCOR partnership meeting is so important because it allows us to talk with others working in CCUS and to learn about the regional projects,” says Phillips. “Collaboration will be essential for the acceleration of CCUS and the PCOR partnership fosters this regional collaboration.”

The meeting opened with an interactive workshop where PCOR members participated in surveys and discussions about shared experiences, community perceptions, and challenges.

“These collaborative discussions are invaluable for connecting people working on CCUS from all different aspects – industry, academia, and regulatory – to identify common goals and start to break down barriers for regional development,” adds Gerace. “When trying to drive new innovation, it is really important to not silo ourselves. It is very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of our own projects, but these types of partnerships are helpful in reminding us of the long-term objectives.”

In addition to robust dialogue, the meeting featured a diverse program of panelists and speakers, including a presentation by Dr. Krutka. Addressing the record number of attendees, Krutka provided an overview of the carbon management vision for Wyoming.

“A key takeaway from the meeting was that the PCOR Partnership, led by EERC, is vital to widespread commercial CCUS deployment and there is a tremendous amount of opportunity in the region,” says Krutka. “SER remains dedicated to utilizing all of Wyoming’s resources to provide assistance to industry and our regional partners to make these new solutions a reality.”

 

 
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