NETL has launched a new data visualization portal focused on speeding up the process of applying and receiving permits for Class VI well sequestration of carbon dioxide.
“There’s a lot of valuable information out there, but it exists in disparate forms and requires substantial time and effort to collect,” said Paige Morkner, a research scientist. “What we have done is pulled this data together in a central database. Having many of these datasets in one location provides a valuable tool for operators, project leads and researchers to find, query and download relevant data to help complete their Class VI permit applications.”
Dubbed the “Class VI Data Support Tool Geodatabase” it pulls information from multiple sources like the Carbon Storage Open Database, the Energy Data eXchange (EDX), the U.S. Geological Survey and several others. The geodatabase has free access and is available to the public.
EDX, the aforementioned NETL data collaboration platform, will be the host of this Class VI well database.
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The key components that Class VI applicants will have is geospatial data for the entire U.S. The database supports queries and is compatible with common industry software like ArcGIS and Eris.
With the Inflation Reduction Act generating a huge amount of interest in carbon capture, there has been some criticism that Class VI permits have become a bottleneck. Over a dozen states now manage the permit process.
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This prompted Morkner and the team at NETL to fast-track this project.
“The act raises the maximum amount of the credit for capturing and sequestering carbon from $50 per metric ton to $85 per metric. Commercial interest in carbon management technologies and projects and the need to complete applications for Class VI permits is ramping up quickly,” said Brian Strazisar, the project’s co-lead along with Morkner.
Upgrades to the geodatabase are also planned. By December the database will be upgraded with a visualization tool, which will enable users to interact with the data in a virtual environment and easily pull relevant spatial data and information into maps for a Class VI permit application
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