January 31, 2024 - Babcock & Wilcox and Black Hills Energy have announced that the companies have received a $16 million grant from the Wyoming Energy Authority to fund the permitting, engineering and development activities for a clean hydrogen generation facility with carbon dioxide capture and sequestration at Black Hills Energy’s Neil Simpson Power Plant in Gillette, Wyo.

The plant design intends to use B&W’s BrightLoop™ technology to produce clean energy from coal, while CO2 emissions will be sequestered, or put to beneficial use. As designed, the plant will be capable of producing 15 tons of clean hydrogen per day utilizing the BrightLoop process, which is a patented chemical looping technology.

“We’re excited that this important project is advancing to the next phase of development, and we thank the State of Wyoming and the Wyoming Energy Authority for supporting our efforts,” said B&W Chief Technology Officer, Brandy Johnson. “We look forward to working closely with our partner, Black Hills Energy, as we complete engineering, begin construction, and move toward completion of this commercial-scale project. This project supports Wyoming’s efforts to utilize an abundant and affordable natural resource to produce clean energy, while showing the flexibility and versatility of B&W’s BrightLoop technology.”

“We’ve successfully worked with Black Hills Energy on many projects over the years and appreciate the opportunity to work with them again on what will be one of the most impactful collaborations our companies have ever undertaken,” Johnson said. “Together we will be forging a new path for Wyoming’s and America’s clean energy future, helping combat climate change while supporting jobs in Wyoming’s energy industry.”

“Black Hills Energy is proud to partner with B&W and we’re excited about this project’s potential,” said Mark Lux, Vice President of Power Delivery for Black Hills Energy. “We’re committed to supporting the advancement of emerging technologies that create solutions for a reliable, cost-effective, cleaner energy future.”   

B&W’s BrightLoop chemical looping technology is part of its ClimateBright™ suite of decarbonization and hydrogen technologies. The BrightLoop process uses a proprietary, regenerable particle and has been demonstrated to effectively separate CO2 while producing hydrogen, steam and/or syngas.