The state’s top energy office has recommended two energy projects for a combined $19 million in support from a Wyoming taxpayer-funded program established to provide matching dollars for federal energy and carbon capture grants.

Some $9.1 million would go to the Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub in southwest Wyoming, and $10 million would support a “nuclear microreactor” effort to assess the manufacture and deployment of small-scale nuclear reactors in the state and beyond, according to the Wyoming Energy Authority, which manages the Energy Matching Funds program on behalf of the governor.

The awards, pending Gov. Mark Gordon’s final approval, would be the first appropriations from the state program. The Legislature created the fund last year with a $100 million allotment and added another $50 million to it earlier this year. The idea is to give Wyoming-based clean- and low-carbon energy projects a competitive edge by providing matching funds needed to land federal dollars available via the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act.