Repowering Coal

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 Terra Praxis 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, Terra Praxis Co-Founder and Manager Partner said.

Kirsty Gogan speaking about the Rebirth of US Nuclear Power was among the highlights RTO selected for this brief about the Global Clean Energy Action Forum (GCEAF), where more than 6,000 people from 34 countries participated. This forum provided a preview of the national and international climate commitments that will be brought forward at the 27th UN Climate Conference of the Parties (COP27) set for Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November.

On Tuesday 27 September 2022, Terra Praxis Founder and Managing Partner, Eric Ingersoll participated in this webinar where the host and speakers looked at the way companies are viewing this aspect of their business, examined the funding challenges and solutions. The webinar revealed some of the real-world success stories and lessons learned, how re-purposing can reduce energy costs, develop transferable skills, and how the development of an eco-system of knowledge and experience in decommissioning and re-purposing can contribute to the wider energy transition. Host: Nigel Blackaby, Content Director, Enlit Europe. Moderators: Rudy Koenig, Principal, Energy for your Success; Julien Halfon, Head of Pension and Corporate Solutions, BNP PARIBAS Asset Management. Speakers: Eric Ingersoll, Founder and Managing Director, Terra Praxis; Oliver Then, Executive Managing Director, VGBE.

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 Terra Praxis, 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.

Microsoft unveiled its plans to launch the Global Renewables Watch yesterday at the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations. Launched in partnership with Planet Labs PBC and The Nature Conservancy, the platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite imagery to map renewable energy installations everywhere on Earth. In addition, the company is working with Terra Praxis to help facilitate the transition from coal to cleaner, more sustainable energy sources.

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This article highlights the recent signing between Microsoft and Terra Praxis 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 Terra Praxis 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 Terra Praxis to accelerate this transformational solution economically, securely and at scale.”

From September 21 through September 23 Pittsburgh hosted the first Global Clean Energy Action Forum. Kirsty Gogan, Terra Praxis Co-Founder and Managing Partner, was invited to participate in several side events tackling with the toughest decarbonization challenges such as how to repower coal-fired power fleets and hard-to-abate sectors including fuels.

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The Energy Disruptors Summit is a catalyst for bold, game-changing solutions to the world's biggest energy challenges. This year, Kirsty Gogan presented on Terra Praxis' work on REPOWER, an innovative solution which could put the world back on track to Net Zero by repurposing existing coal plant infrastructure with clean heat sources.

Non-profit sustainability group Terra Praxis 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. Terra Praxis 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 decarbonize 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.

During this Climate Week briefing, Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith emphasized their three-pronged agenda: advancing the sustainability of its business, providing the digital technology needed to build a sustainable world and supporting the societal infrastructure needed for a sustainable world. During the briefing, Microsoft and partners, including Terra Praxis, outlined compelling examples of how Microsoft-enabled digital technologies could accelerate the low-carbon energy transition. The first centered on its collaboration with TerraPraxis on REPOWER across the globe.

Terra Praxis 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 Terra Praxis 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 Terra Praxis to repower coal plants is highlighted.

Microsoft and Terra Praxis, 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 Terra Praxis 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 Terra Praxis to accelerate this transformational solution economically, securely and at scale.”

Terra Praxis, a non-profit organization focused on actionable solutions for climate and prosperity, has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to deliver a digital solution that will tackle a significant decarbonization 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 Terra Praxis 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 Terra Praxis to accelerate this transformational solution economically, securely and at scale."

Terra Praxis 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, Terra Praxis 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.