The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for up to US$100 million in federal funding to refurbish and modernise the nation’s existing coal power plants.
This follows the Department’s September announcement of its intent to invest US$625 million to expand and reinvigorate America’s coal industry. The effort will support practical, high-impact projects that improve efficiency, plant lifetimes, and performance of coal and natural gas use.
“President Trump has ended the war on American coal and is restoring common sense energy policies that put Americans first. These projects will help keep America’s coal plants operating and ensure the US has the reliable and affordable power it needs to keep the lights on and power our future”, said Chris Wright, US Secretary of Energy
This NOFO seeks applications for projects to design, implement, test, and validate three strategic opportunities for refurbishment and retrofit of existing American coal power plants to make them operate more efficiently, reliably, and affordably:
- Development, engineering, and implementation of advanced wastewater management systems capable of cost-effective water recovery and other value-added by-products from wastewater streams.
- Engineering, design, and implementation of retrofit systems that enable fuel switching between coal and natural gas without compromising critical operational parameters.
- Deployment, engineering, and implementation of advanced coal-natural gas co-firing systems and system components, including highly fuel-flexible burner designs and advanced control systems, to maximise gas co-firing capacity to provide a low cost retrofit option for coal plants while minimising efficiency penalties.