With the North Dakota legislative session now in its third week, the LEC continues its focus on enhancing, preserving, and protecting the state’s lignite industry through increasing the state’s partnership in research and development.
LEC President Jason Bohrer testifying before a Senate taxation committee regarding funding sources for R&D.With several challenges on the horizon, particularly with respect to federal regulations driving the need for an accelerated timeline for development of carbon capture, utilization, and storage, the LEC has asked the state to join industry in providing additional funding to identify and develop advanced energy technology.
The Sixty-Fourth Legislative Assembly in 2015 granted a one-time appropriation of $5 million to the Lignite Research Fund.
Over the last two years the Industrial Commission has approved the use of those funds for the Energy & Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks, ND, to explore issues associated with a new power generation facility in North Dakota utilizing the Allam Cycle.
Results of this study have proven to be extremely promising so far, prompting the LEC to host a delegation of legislators to tour NET Power’s Allam Cycle pilot plant under construction near Houston, Texas this past September.
In addition to the Allam Cycle, legislators also toured NRG’s Petra Nova project, which is the world’s largest carbon capture retrofit of an existing coal-based power plant. Several LEC members are also involved in efforts to provide a retrofit option for existing power plants in the state.
Governor Dalrymple’s proposed budget in December provided an additional boost to the LEC’s efforts by providing additional R&D dollars to the Lignite Research Fund for advanced energy technology development. While the legislature remains cautious about state revenues over the next biennium, the LEC will continue to advocate for these provisions as the Senate and House Appropriations Committees consider the 2017-19 state budget.