Published June 21, 2023
By Christine Reed
The Hydrogen Energy Research Center (H2ERC) in the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources (SER) is seeking proposals from current UW faculty members or researchers examining hydrogen production and transportation for Wyoming.
Supported by the state of Wyoming, the Anschutz Foundation, and Williams, H2ERC focuses on applied research to support the growth of the hydrogen industry in Wyoming. In 2022, H2ERC issued a request for proposals (RFP) from current UW faculty members on hydrogen energy, where topics of interest included all supply chain levels, such as hydrogen production, use, transportation, and storage. The selected projects focused on hydrogen storage and hydrogen made from natural gas.
This request for proposals is a follow-up from the initial RFP with the aim of homing in research areas not covered in the initial request.
Phase II proposals should cover one of three areas of interest: hydrogen transportation, electrolysis hydrogen production systems, or hydrogen production from Wyoming’s coal resources.
“During phase I of this seed funding endeavor, we selected seven research projects across the entire supply chain with particular emphasis on Wyoming natural gas,” says H2ERC Director, Eugene Holubnyak. “In this phase, we are excited to narrow down our scope, add resources and time to the projects, and really prepare some of these technologies for deployment in the future.”
Selected proposals will receive up to $150,000 in research seed funding over the duration of a two-year period, and do not need to have participated in round one of the RFP.
“The ultimate goal of this seed funding is to support small projects and enable the principal investigators to have sufficient information and tools to pursue external research grants,” adds Holubnyak. “The School of Energy Resources and H2ERC are excited to support the existing expertise across campus, ultimately growing the foundation of work focused on Wyoming-energy-driven economic development.”
Interested faculty members are invited to submit proposals via email — as well as any questions — directly to Holubnyak at eholubny@uwyo.edu with the subject “SER RFP PHASE II.”
For more details on the request, as well as directions for submission, download the full RFP here. The deadline for proposal submissions is July 17. The selected projects will be notified by Aug. 4.
