terrapraxis - microsoft collaBORATION

In this CNN interview, Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith and host Julia Chatterley shine a light on TerraPraxis #repoweringcoal initiative with Microsoft, Bryden Wood, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University at Buffalo.

During the Climate Week briefing, Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith emphasized Microsoft’s three-pronged agenda: getting its own house in order on carbon emissions and other climate-related concerns, including water use; promoting digital technology that the world needs to build a more sustainable future; and support efforts to promote societal changes – skills, markets and laws – that support the just transition to a clean economy. During the briefing, Microsoft outlined two compelling examples of how Microsoft-enabled digital technologies could accelerate the low-carbon energy transition. The first centered on a collaboration with TerraPraxis to repower coal plants, “If we don’t have a climate strategy that includes these people, we don’t have a climate strategy,” Eric Ingersoll, TerraPraxis Co-Founder and Manager Partner said.

During Climate Week, Microsoft gave a briefing with several partners outlining compelling examples of how Microsoft-enabled digital technologies could accelerate the low-carbon energy transition. The first centered on a collaboration with TerraPraxis, focused on helping coal plant operators determine the best ways to retrofit their facilities to run on carbon-free energy. The idea is to create a replicable way for gathering data to help more than 2,400 coal plants be reconfigured to run nuclear power. The grid infrastructure surrounding these facilities can help developers add this carbon-free energy more quickly, by streamlining permitting, and it will leverage the skills and talents of coal plant workers into the future, said Eric Ingersoll, one of the managing partners and founder of TerraPraxis. "If we don’t have a climate strategy that includes these people, we don’t have a climate strategy," he said.

This article highlights the recent signing between Microsoft and TerraPraxis to deliver a digital solution to support the repurposing of over 2,400 coal-fired power plants to run on carbon-free energy. “The global energy transition requires partnerships and technology innovation like this one led by TerraPraxis to repurpose coal-based power plants with carbon-free energy generation,” said Darryl Willis, corporate vice president of Energy & Resources, Microsoft. “We look forward to our role in enabling TerraPraxis to accelerate this transformational solution economically, securely and at scale.”

Non-profit sustainability group TerraPraxis will partner with Microsoft to deliver a digital solution to support the repurposing of over 2,400 coal-fired power plants to run on carbon-free energy. TerraPraxis is looking to combine its expertise in energy with Microsoft to build and deploy a set of tools to automate the design and regulatory approval needed to decarbonise coal facilities with nuclear power. The burning of coal causes more than 40% of global carbon emissions and more than 75% of emissions from electricity generation. As global carbon emissions rebounded in 2021 to their highest level in history, increased use of coal was the main driving factor, reaching an all-time high of 15.3 billion tonnes. According to the International Energy Agency, the world’s consumption of coal is set to rise yet again in 2022.

TerraPraxis is looking to combine its deep expertise in energy with Microsoft to build and deploy a set of tools to automate the design and regulatory approval needed to decarbonize coal facilities with nuclear power, helping transition one of the world’s largest sources of carbon to zero emissions. The relationship began during last year’s Microsoft Global Hackathon, where the team working with TerraPraxis won the Hack for Sustainability challenge sponsored by Microsoft President Brad Smith.

Climate Week started on September 19 in New York, in this article Forbes tells us what to expect and what to pay attention to during the week, including the Sustainability Deals Of The Week where the collaboration between Microsoft and TerraPraxis to repower coal plants is highlighted.

Microsoft and TerraPraxis, a nonprofit headquartered in the U.K., have joined forces to develop a software application that will help existing coal plants determine the best avenue for decarbonization. “The global energy transition requires partnerships and technology innovation like this one led by TerraPraxis to repurpose coal-based power plants with carbon-free energy generation,” Darryl Willis, corporate vice president of Energy & Resources at Microsoft, said in a statement. “We look forward to our role in enabling TerraPraxis to accelerate this transformational solution economically, securely and at scale.”

TerraPraxis, a non-profit organisation focused on actionable solutions for climate and prosperity, has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to deliver a digital solution that will tackle a significant decarbonisation challenge—repurposing more than 2,400 coal-fired power plants worldwide to run on carbon-free energy. "The global energy transition requires partnerships and technology innovation like this one led by TerraPraxis to repurpose coal-based power plants with carbon-free energy generation,” said Darryl Willis, corporate vice president of Energy & Resources, Microsoft. "We look forward to our role in enabling TerraPraxis to accelerate this transformational solution economically, securely and at scale."

TerraPraxis will deploy a set of tools to automate the design and regulatory approval needed to decarbonize coal facilities with nuclear power, helping transition one of the world's largest sources of carbon to zero emissions. To do this, TerraPraxis intends to develop a software application with Microsoft that will analyze the existing coal fleet to determine the best avenue to retrofit the plants, saving coal plant owners time and money while giving their assets and the communities around them a new lease on life for decades to come.

A digital solution will tackle a significant decarbonization challenge—decarbonizing a global fleet of 2,400 coal plants to run on clean energy. TerraPraxis, a non-profit focused on actionable solutions for climate and prosperity, is collaborating with Microsoft to deliver a digital solution to tackle a significant decarbonization challenge—repurposing over 2,400 coal-fired power plants worldwide to run on carbon-free energy. The relationship began during last year's Microsoft Global Hackathon, where the team working with TerraPraxis won the Hack for Sustainability challenge sponsored by Microsoft President Brad Smith.

TerraPraxis and Microsoft enter a strategic collaboration to repower coal-fired power plants with advanced heat sources across the globe. Watch the sizzle video from the signing ceremony here, where Brad Smith, President of Microsoft said: “One of the greatest challenges of the XXI Century is really to cut the cord between power and carbon. And of the most profoundly challenging areas of this is the world’s reliance on coal to generate power. And, TerraPraxis, I think you all are at the absolute center of the world’s innovation to cut the cord while enabling the world to continue to rely on the power plants that have been built and the infrastructure that already exists so that the world doesn't have to go spend the money to recreate what already exists.”