BATON ROUGE – LSU energy researchers are receiving a $160 million grant from The National Science Foundation to “help turn Louisiana back into an energy powerhouse,” the school’s associate vice president for research said at a Rotary Club of Baton Rouge appearance Wednesday.
The Louisiana Economic Development office will contribute another $67.5 million over the next decade, pushing the investment to more than $220 million.
“This program is all about making sure the initiatives that are taken on by our industry partners are not to the detriment of our state, they are to the benefit of our state,” LSU Associate Vice President for Research Involvement Andrew Maas said.
Maas, who is also the Louisiana Energy Transition Engine’s principal investigator, said Louisiana is the best location in the country, saying it is a prime location for the program.
“Louisiana has sort of the perfect trifecta, that trifecta is that we have the skilled labor, the CO2 emissions, and the trifecta the transportation network. that transportation network includes pipelines and rivers,” Maas said.
He told WBRZ the reason the federal government is making the huge investment in not only LSU but the state is because of the benefits it can have for the country.
“So carbon capture is a process of collection CO or CO2 and putting it into a pipeline using it for other industrial purposes and then potentially storing it underground that’s important for every one of our industrial partners up and down the river,” Maas said.
Not only does Maas believe Louisiana is perfect for the research, but he also believes it is needed to keep industrial business in the state.
“If we’re not supportive of our energy industry, our energy industry is going to leave and we’re going to be left holding the bag of a lot of problems,” Maas said.
Maas says the program still has to hire a few more roles before the program can fully take off.