CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon is leading the State of Wyoming to continue its partnership with the Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL) in a collaborative effort to promote and strengthen the coal industry. The two entities renewed an MOU in July. The collaboration includes work to develop a Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) test project at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center in Gillette.

“This MOU reinforces my commitment to working cooperatively to keep coal in the energy mix and continuing our efforts to support carbon capture and sequestration,” Governor Gordon said.

The MOU is for five years, and extends an initial MOU signed in 2016 by Wyoming Governor Matt Mead and Osamu Tsukamoto, President of JCOAL. The statement of cooperation includes the promotion of technical cooperation; the facilitation of research and development; and the facilitation of coal exports and sales. 

Last year, Wyoming signed an MOU with JCOAL and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) to test their novel solid sorbent capture technology at the ITC. The ongoing project has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with planning for the construction phase continuing.

JCOAL operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and is supported by more than 120 member coal-related businesses, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Nippon Steel and Toshiba. The organization works to promote overall coal activities, from coal mining to the field of coal utilization, toward a stable energy supply, sustainable economic growth and the reduction of the global environment emissions.

A copy of the MOU may be found here.