Colorado awards $5.2m for industrial emissions cuts

The Colorado Energy Office has awarded $5.2 million in Clean Air Program grants to support industrial emissions reduction projects, state officials announced.

The funding will support deployment of technologies including electric heat pump boilers, carbon management, methane detection and electrification at industrial facilities across Colorado.

The state has set a goal of reducing industrial sector emissions 20% by 2030 compared with a 2015 baseline. To date, the Energy Office has awarded more than $29.3 million for industrial decarbonization projects, including $20.6 million in Clean Air Program funding and $8.7 million through the Colorado Industrial Tax Credit Offering.

“Colorado is leading the way by investing in innovative solutions to reduce air pollution and support healthy communities,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.

This funding round differed from previous rounds by directing grants to decarbonization technology providers and as-a-service companies rather than individual industrial facilities. Applicants were required to show they had a plan to secure an eligible facility to implement their technology.

“With industrial facilities as a leading source of emissions in Colorado, we need innovative strategies to advance decarbonization technologies in this crucial sector,” Energy Office Executive Director Will Toor said. “By directly supporting technology providers, we are giving businesses an important opportunity to bring their technologies to the market in Colorado, while reducing financial risk for individual industrial facilities and improving air quality in local communities.”

The four awardees and their projects are:

• AtmosZero, $1,811,200, to replace natural gas boilers with electric heat pump boilers.
• CREW Carbon, $2,352,689.10, to store carbon from a wastewater treatment facility through carbon mineralization.
• Trellisense, $148,000, to work with natural gas operators in the San Juan Basin on methane detection and reduction technology. The company also received a $250,000 Advanced Industries Early Stage Capital and Retention grant last year from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
• Sun Metalon, $898,500, to recycle metal on-site at an aluminum or steel facility using electricity instead of natural gas.

The state said the four projects are expected to reduce annual emissions equivalent to removing nearly 4,000 cars from the road. The projects are also expected to cut sulfur oxides, nitrous oxides and particulate matter.

The grants are funded through Senate Bill 22-193, the Air Quality Improvement Investments Act, signed into law in May 2022. The Energy Office has made 14 Clean Air Program awards to date, supporting projects in sectors including oil and gas transport and storage, wastewater treatment and coal mines.

The office plans to open another round of Clean Air Program funding for technology providers in early 2026. Applications for the Colorado Industrial Tax Credit Offering are expected to reopen this spring.