Repowering Coal

The US Department of Energy (DOE) reported in a September study that over 300 coal-fired power plants in the United States alone are candidates for the Repowering Coal programme. DOE estimated that “80% of retired and operating coal power plant sites that were evaluated have the basic characteristics needed to be considered amenable to host an advanced nuclear reactor”. This represents over 260GWe located at more than 300 sites. However, the Terrestrial Energy-TerraPraxis partnership is looking to repower coal plants globally, which is an estimated 2TWe opportunity.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) could play a key role in plans to replace the heart of coal-fired power plants with a low - or zero-emission heat source.

Spotted: The Paris Agreement states that emissions need to be reduced by 45 per cent by 2030 and reach Net Zero by 2050 in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Although many now consider that this target is beyond reach, it is still possible to stall warming at 2 degrees Celsius. One key to reaching this is to eliminate the use of fossil fuels as soon as possible, but current industry and deployment models for advanced heat sources cannot deliver fast enough or at the scale required. Startup Terra Praxis is aiming to change this.

Terra Praxis joined business and tech executives, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and top academics at Techonomy 22 for a deep and provocative dive into the consequential issues of our time.

Terra Praxis participated in the inaugural Planetary Stewardship Event that elevated transformative ideas on climate and established Boston as a hub for driving powerful ideas toward global climate and sustainability solutions, where our Chief Development Officer, Megan Pulliam, presented the Terra Praxis REPOWER initiative.

As the dirtiest of the fossil fuels, ending the use of coal-fired power stations is imperative for achieving net zero. Terra Praxis' co-founders and Managing Partners, Kirsty Gogan and Eric Ingersoll believe they have a solution to accelerate this process whilst meeting energy needs.

In this episode of The Stand, Eamon Dunphy, host, presenter and editor is joined by Kirsty Gogan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Terra Praxis from COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to talk about the climate challenges ahead for global populations.

In 2022, at COP27, Terra Praxis hosted and participated in more than a dozen events, made a series of high profile announcements alongside global climate leaders, and launched new products and partnerships.

UK-based non-profit TerraPraxis has announced that its new Evaluate application is live and available for coal plant owners and investors to assess coal plants for conversion to emissions-free power generation sources.

On November 7, 2022, Terra Praxis made available for the first time its new EVALUATE application at COP27. This app enables coal plant owners and investors around the world to evaluate hundreds of coal plants for fast, low-cost, and repeatable conversion to emissions-free power generation sources.

To avoid catastrophic climate impacts to people and our planet we must apply our most innovative strategies to the toughest-to-decarbonise parts of the economy, which include aviation, shipping and the single largest emitter of carbon emissions, coal-fired power plants. Coal’s virtues, ironically, make it a historically neglected area of the climate challenge and now the single biggest problem we face – but flip it around and tackling coal-fired generation could present the single biggest decarbonization opportunity on the planet.

Terra Praxis' co-founder Eric Ingersoll joined thought leaders at the first annual Fusion Executive Summit, hosted by Citigroup Clean Energy Transition and Fusion Industry Association. This program included keynote addresses from fusion thought leaders and panel discussions with a diverse set of fusion industry executives from business, government, finance, and academia.

The conference hosted a content-driven programme with eminent speakers from the entire sustainability chain who delivered thought-provoking insights and delved into important conversations on how to address the climate crisis and accelerate the shift to a clean economy in the UK and across the globe.

Kirsty Gogan participated in the NNWI Forum in London. The discussions at our Forum shed light on how nuclear can help turn a crisis into an opportunity. Together with renewables and other low carbon electricity generation technologies it can provide truly sustainable solutions to the urgent challenges now facing the world.

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