Repowering Coal

How Much Would It Cost to Reduce Global Warming? $131 Trillion Is One Answer. Money is a sticking point in climate-change negotiations around the world. U.S. utilities and startup firms are trying to convince lawmakers, regulators and customers that they can convert aging coal power plants to house small nuclear reactors, a so-far unproven way to deliver electricity. The burgeoning idea would place fleets of small, modular nuclear reactors at or near former coal-fired power plants and is taking hold across the electricity industry. Utility companies see it as a way to repurpose coal plants they are set to retire and are joining with startups developing the reactors, looking to tap into billions of dollars in federal funding.

Kirsty Gogan is an internationally sought-after advisor to governments, industry, academic networks and NGOs. She is regularly invited as an expert speaker on science communication, climate change, competitiveness and innovation. In this interview, she explains the Repowering Coal initiative, TerraPraxis' goals and partners, the algorithmic design tools being created with Bryden Wood, the digital platform being developed, the pros and cons of SMRs and Advanced Modular Reactors, and provides some advice for energy utilities.

The world has more than 2TWe of coal-fired power plants, adding roughly 12 gigatonnes of CO₂ emissions per year, representing almost one-third of global total net emissions of 38.8 gigatonnes a year. But shutting coal plants down worldwide is not a solution when the majority are less than 14 years old, and energy demand is soaring, writes Eric Ingersoll and Kirsty Gogan of Terrapraxis, a non-profit organisation focused on accelerating the energy transition through innovation.

Microsoft has joined the TerraPraxis-led team working on Repowering Coal. Microsoft is helping create Azure tools to enable automated analysis of the US (and ultimately global) coal power generation fleet for retrofit. Microsoft will build the analytics tools with TerraPraxis and help undertake strategic partnerships with #RepoweringCoal consortium stakeholders. At the Microsoft booth during #CERAWeek, TerraPraxis will offer demonstrations of the Azure tools showcasing the opportunity for retrofitting coal power plants. If you're in Houston, please visit us at the Microsoft Agora House, in the George R. Brown Convention Center March 8-9.

Bryden Wood has joined TerraPraxis in working on a “Repowering Coal” initiative to help countries meet net-zero emissions targets by replacing coal-fired boilers at existing power plants with Generation IV advanced modular reactors (AMRs)—creating a new design and construction solution that would make such a program possible at scale and speed, in part by deploying a new digital platform. Kirsty Gogan of TerraPraxis said repowering is a way “to accelerate and de-risk global decarbonization,” while also supporting an “affordable clean energy provision on existing sites utilizing existing transmission.” She said it provides “the opportunity to reduce the overall scale of investment required to enable the clean energy transition.”

SUNY Distinguished Professor Andrew Whittaker is part of a consortium led by TerraPraxis developing a digital platform to repower coal plants using advanced heat sources. The aim is to retrofit retired and operating coal-fired power plants with modular nuclear reactors while retaining the balance of the plant. Other members include the UK-based architectural and engineering consultancy—Bryden Wood, along with MIT, Microsoft, and a group of utilities. Whittaker and the multidisciplinary TerraPraxis team, which includes civil, mechanical and nuclear engineers and designers, are adapting proven seismic isolation and damping technologies to standardize equipment, drive down cost and accelerate construction. Researchers are targeting a five-fold reduction in capital cost.

TerraPraxis is working with Bryden Wood to create a new digital platform for making the replacement of coal-fired boilers at existing power plants with advanced modular nuclear reactors possible at scale and speed. TerraPraxis co-founder Eric Ingersoll said: "This ambitious project will design a process to repower the world's coal fleets via a fast, repeatable system resulting in carbon negative power plants that are cheaper to operate than before and ensure continuity for communities reliant on these plants for energy and jobs."

Engineering and architecture firm Bryden Wood has revealed the digital platform for its ambitious Repowering coal project, which aims to retro-fit coal-fired power plants to accommodate modular nuclear reactors. The strategy, developed in collaboration with non-profit TerraPraxis, will see coal-fired boilers at existing power plants replaced with Generation IV Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRS), which will be ready for deployment by 2027. This initiative is seen as a way to make gains on worldwide decarbonisation of the energy sector.

International design company Bryden Wood is working alongside TerraPraxis to create a new digital platform to decarbonise electricity by 2050. The ‘Repowering Coal’ initiative will deliver a substantial portion of the clean electricity required to achieve net zero by 2050, by replacing coal-fired boilers at existing power plants with Generation IV Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) which will be ready for deployment by 2027.

TerraPraxis has been listed among seven of the most high-impact, cost-effective, evidence-based organizations fighting climate change. Why Johannes Ackva and Luisa Sandkühler of Founders Pledge recommend TerraPraxis: “We believe that TerraPraxis continues to do incredibly important work around shaping a conversation for advanced nuclear to address critical decarbonization challenges, such as the decarbonization of hard-to-decarbonize sectors and the conundrum of how to deal with lots of very new coal plants that are unlikely to be prematurely retired.”

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You can contribute to our work at by making a donation at every.org/terrapraxis — to our US-based 501(c)3. By donating through this channel, you will receive a receipt for your donation from Every.org which is a US-based 501(c)3. If you are based in Europe or the United Kingdom and interested in donating to TerraPraxis, please contact us. Donations support our work in the US, UK, and Europe.

The flurry of new policies and announcements raises the question: Are we at the dawn of a nuclear renaissance? We’ve heard these claims before. But the mounting scale of the climate and energy conundrum is fueling more money and favorable policies into atomic power. Kirsty Gogan, co-founder of TerraPraxis is quoted: “There have been years of indecisiveness, but the climate is changing around nuclear"... “We need Impossible burgers for energy, a drop-in substitute. We’re not bending the curve on emissions because in the power sector we still need reliability, making the idea that we’re going to phase out coal unforgivably unrealistic right now.”

Thanks to a grant from Founders Pledge, TerraPraxis hosted a high-level, high-impact event in parallel with COP26 in Scotland on November 3, 2021: Derisking the Terawatt Transition at the Climate Action Solution Centre. Read this article on Grant II: Changing how we think and act about the challenge of committed emissions to learn why Founders Pledge decided to make this grant, what they expect from it, and how they will track impact and what it has achieved so far.

SUPPORT OUR WORK
You can contribute to our work by making a donation at every.org/terrapraxis — to our US-based 501(c)3. By donating through this channel, you will receive a receipt for your donation from Every.org which is a US-based 501(c)3. If you are based in Europe or the United Kingdom and interested in donating to TerraPraxis, please contact us. Donations support our work in the US, UK, and Europe.

Bryden Wood has revealed plans to repurpose the world’s coal-fired power stations to house modular nuclear reactors as part of a ‘major initiative’ to decarbonise the energy sector. The practice's Repurposing Coal proposal has been drawn up with TerraPraxis, a non-profit organisation focused on action for climate and energy, which leads the initiative. Unveiled at COP26 this week, the strategy sets out how coal-fired boilers at existing power plants could be replaced with Advanced Heat Sources (Generation IV Advanced Modular Reactors) to deliver a substantial portion of the clean electricity required to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Bryden Wood, which was again recognised in the AJ100 Best Use of Technology category this year, has created, along with TerraPraxis, ‘a platform solution’ making these conversions possible at scale and speed by transforming how projects of this kind are financed, designed, approved and delivered.

Bryden Wood (and TerraPraxis) have announced ambitious plans to repurpose the world’s coal fired power stations to accommodate modular nuclear reactors in a bid to decarbonise the global energy sector. Unveiled at COP26, the plan suggests replacing coal fired boilers at existing power plants with Advanced Heat Sources (Generation IV Advanced Modular Reactors) to deliver a substantial portion of the clean electricity required to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Brydon Wood is an international architecture and engineering firm working with TerraPraxis on this “platform solution” that will make this possible at scale and speed by transforming how projects of this kind are financed, designed, approved and delivered.

TerraPraxis engaged Bryden Wood to work on the ‘Repurposing Coal’ initiative, just launched at COP26. The initiative aims to replace coal-fired boilers at existing power plants with advanced heat sources (generation IV advanced modular reactors) to deliver a substantial portion of the clean electricity required to achieve net zero by 2050. TerraPraxis is working with Bryden Wood, MIT, University at Buffalo, Microsoft, and others to standardise and optimise the following key elements: all processes including procurement, investment and approval; building and engineering systems; design, manufacture, assembly and operation; and interactions between different supply chain organisations to enable greater collaboration.

Mohamed Nasheed, former prime minister of the Maldives who now leads a group of countries called the Climate Vulnerable Forum, singled out the G20’s failure to be more ambitious about phasing out coal. “This is a welcome start,” Mr. Nasheed said in an emailed statement, “But it won’t stop the climate from heating more than 1.5 degrees and devastating large parts of the world, including the Maldives. G20 countries need to look at decommissioning coal plants at home and repowering their coal fleet infrastructure with clean energy.” (Note former Prime Minister Nasheed participated in TerraPraxis' full-day event on Derisking the Terawatt Transition at COP26.)

Mohamed Nasheed, a former president of the Maldives who once held an underwater cabinet meeting to highlight the threat to the Indian Ocean nation, said the coal commitments were not nearly enough. "This is a welcome start. But it won’t stop the climate from heating more than 1.5°C and devastating large parts of the world," he said, "G20 countries need to look at decommissioning coal plants at home and repowering their coal fleet infrastructure with clean energy." (Note former Prime Minister Nasheed participated in TerraPraxis' full-day event on Derisking the Terawatt Transition at COP26.)