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Released November 07, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
Written by Jesse Broehl, news editor for IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas)
Summary
Intentionally or not, the DOE may be showing a preference in transitioning coal to natural gas through its plan to award funds to refurbish or modernize coal-fired power plants.
IIR Data Shows Most U.S. Coal-Fired Plant Projects are Related to Closures
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is opening up a process to award funds to refurbish or modernize U.S. coal-fired power plants. However, in doing so, the DOE may be revealing--intentionally or not--a preference in transitioning coal to natural gas since two of the program's three areas of funding focus on fuel switching and co-firing between coal and natural gas.
On October 31, the DOE issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for up to $100 million in federal funding to refurbish and modernize the nation's existing coal power plants. The NOFO seeks applications for projects to design, implement, test, and validate three strategic opportunities for refurbishment and retrofit of existing American coal power plants:
Development, engineering, and implementation of advanced wastewater management systems capable of cost-effective water recovery and other value-added byproducts 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 maximize gas co-firing capacity to provide a low cost retrofit option for coal plants while minimizing efficiency penalties.
More than 200 Active Projects at U.S. Coal Plants
Projects currently in motion at U.S. coal-fired power plants would be candidates for the DOE's funds. Industrial Info tracks all large capital and maintenance projects at all U.S. coal plants. IIR data and analysis shows that most of what coal plant owners are presently undertaking for projects are related to closures of coal ash ponds, coal units or entire plants.
The $100 million on offer from the DOE would be a drop in the bucket (less than 1%) compared to the total investment value of current projects at U.S. coal-fired power plants. There are more than 200 capital projects representing $29.3 billion in the U.S. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) can view the list of detailed project reports here.
Most U.S. Coal Plant Non-Maintenance Projects Related to Closures
More than three quarters of the projects being tracked by IIR are related to plant closures and retirements: 118 are categorized as environmental compliance and environmental mandate projects. Digging a layer below, almost all of these environmental projects are focused on coal ash pond closures and remediations required when a coal plant unit closes down. Another 62 projects are for full coal plant or unit closures. Therefore, 180 active projects tracked by IIR are related to closures.
Around 29 projects are not related to closures but are focused on keeping the coal plants operating either through conversions to gas, or various capital upgrades, replacements, refurbishments and life extensions.
Most are modest-size projects but there is one outlier noted in the chart under Brownfield, which is the massive $10 billion Homer City project in Pennsylvania to convert a decommissioned coal plant into a natural gas plant. It is some of these projects that would be candidates for the DOE's funding round.
Lower cost of natural gas generation is driving a move from coal to gas conversions and co-firing. In a related IIR article on the recent NOFO funding, the megawatt-hour comparisons show this trend. Conversely, the same data sets also show coal use holding steady and even increasing in the U.S.
Key Takeaways
- The DOE plans to award funds to refurbish or modernize coal-fired power plants.
- IIR is tracking more than 200 capital coal-fired power plant projects in the U.S.
- More than three quarters of the projects are related to plant closures and retirements.
About Industrial Info
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
