A carbon capture test site built at a coal-fired power plant in Wyoming in 2018 is finally ready to bring a pair of promising technologies from the lab to market. California-based gas separation developer Membrane Technology and Research and Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki Heavy Industries broke ground on their respective carbon capture test sites at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center during a ceremony Tuesday afternoon attended by some of the state's top energy sector figures and several Japanese diplomats. (ITC). Many of Wyoming's leaders believe carbon capture will be key to preserving the struggling coal industry, which is being squeezed out of the electricity market by lower-emissions and increasingly affordable alternatives. ITC doesn't look like much. It's an expanse of red dirt that looks more like a fenced-off parking lot than a world-class innovation center. But the establishment that began to take shape almost ten years ago under the then-Gov. Matt Mead - is one of the few places in the world where researchers can test projects that have worked well in the lab but are not yet mature enough to be installed in a power plant.

(Nicole Pollack)