Draft2:Intermountain West

The intermountain west region comprises six states with natural resources that create a perfect recipe for energy initiatives. Left to Right: high annual dry gas production, high solar irradiance, moderate to high wind speeds, high geothermal resource potential. CREDIT: Adapted from U.S. Energy Information Administration, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The Intermountain West region (I-WEST) is a partnership composed of states with shared geographical, environmental, and demographic attributes that present a broad spectrum of carbon neutral energy opportunities. The states also share related energy challenges, including persistent drought and economic dependency on fossil fuel.

The Intermountain West region is composed of six states:

Official Site - iwest.org

DOE's role

The partnership is sponsored by Department of Energy and led by Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Mission/Objectives

Develop a regional technology roadmap for transitioning the Intermountain West to a carbon neutral and economically sustainable energy system, and build regional coalitions to implement and deploy the roadmap by 2035.

Stakeholders

Through a series of stakeholder engagements, the I-WEST team is soliciting input from Intermountain West communities on how energy transition will affect local economies, jobs, and ecosystems. With this place-based approach, the I-WEST technology roadmap will emphasize technology pathways that are regionally relevant and promote energy justice.

The I-WEST team is composed of national laboratories, universities, and a non-profit research institution, each with long-standing initiatives related to clean energy transition. Each institution is responsible for engaging stakeholders from their respective states to ensure that ideas, concerns, and priorities from local communities are heard and carefully considered as the I-WEST team works to develop a regional technology roadmap for energy transition.

The I-WEST initiative is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and leverages decades of research and development funded by DOE energy programs. Across the national laboratory complex, DOE supports projects to develop technologies and solutions that support the nation’s energy security mission.
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is leading the charge on the I-WEST initiative, coordinating R&D efforts across all DOE energy programs to bring various technology solutions together.

Meetings

State-based Workshops

In September 2021, I-WEST hosted community workshops across the region—one in each of the six states and one in the Four Corners area focused on Tribal Nations from that region. These workshops brought together a diverse set of stakeholders, including state and local government representatives, regional colleges and universities, the business sector, environmental non-profits, a variety of state agencies, and residents from within each of the states. The workshops were virtual and included panel discussions, presentations, and breakout discussions to gather inputs from stakeholders on a number of topics, including carbon-neutrality goals, concerns related to transitioning to carbon neutrality, needs related to transitioning to carbon neutrality, expectations related to transitioning to carbon neutrality and thoughts on effective technologies to meet carbon neutrality goals.

Technology-based Workshops

I-WEST is focused on regionally relevant energy solutions that can be deployed on an accelerated timeline. Pathways of particular interest include the capture, storage and use of carbon dioxide, the production and use of carbon neutral hydrogen, and the production and use of bioenergy and bioproducts, and the production of clean electricity. Starting in January 2022, the I-WEST team hosted technology-focused workshops to better understand technology readiness, infrastructure, policy, and societal readiness related to each of the technology pathways under consideration. The workshops targeted leaders of current and emerging projects in the region and presented opportunities for participants to connect their capabilities with other stakeholders and technology providers invested in building pathways to carbon neutrality in the region. These technology-focused workshops were followed by workshops focused on economic impacts (led by the University of New Mexico) and policy (led by Resources for the Future).

Seminar Series

An ongoing seminar series hosted by I-WEST addresses a broad spectrum of topics tied to transitioning the Intermountain West to carbon neutrality, including decarbonization technologies, energy related policies, opportunities for building new energy economies, impacts on workforce, and environmental justice. The I-WEST seminar series features exciting presentations by thought leaders actively working in the area of energy transition. Some of our speakers to date have included Melanie Kenderdine, Principal and Executive Vice President of the Energy Futures Initiative; Jason Sandel, Executive Vice President of Aztec Well Family of Companies; Jose Benitez, Director for the Systems, Economic and Environmental Analysis Division within the DOE Office of Clean Coal and Carbon Management; Ruby Leung, Chief Scientist of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model; and Moji Karimi, Co-Founder and CEO of Cemvita Factory, Inc.

Listening Sessions

If you’ve had the opportunity to join an I-WEST event and have additional thoughts you’d like to share, or if you did not get a chance to join but are interested in engaging with I-WEST, there is still time to join the conversation! I-WEST offers one-on-one listening sessions for regional tribes, local community leaders, special interest groups, educators, students, policy makers, project leaders, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders to share their perspectives on energy transition in the Intermountain West. If you are interested in scheduling a listening session, please send an email to [[1]].

Contact

Address
- P.O. Box 1663
- MS P288
- Los Alamos, NM 87545
Phone - (505) 551-4860
Email - iwest@lanl.gov
https://iwest.org/contact/

External links

References

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