The U.S. Department of Energy on Monday announced $625 million in funding aimed at retrofitting and recommissioning coal plants.
“Beautiful, clean coal will be essential to powering America’s reindustrialization and winning the AI race,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “These funds will help keep our nation’s coal plants operating and will be vital to keeping electricity prices low and the lights on without interruption. Coal built the greatest industrial engine the world has ever known, and with President Trump’s leadership, it will help do so again.”
The DOE cast the funding as an “investment.” The agency did not immediately respond to questions about the funding mechanism, including whether it would be made available as loans or grants.
According to the announcement, the funding includes:
- $350 million for recommissioning or modernizing coal power units.
- $175 million for coal power projects that provide direct benefits of energy affordability, reliability and resiliency in rural communities.
- $50 million for wastewater management systems that enable coal plants to “extend their service life, reduce operational costs and enhance commercial byproduct recovery.”
- $25 million for dual-firing retrofits to enable coal power plants to seamlessly switch between fuels.
- $25 million for development and testing of natural gas cofiring systems.
America’s Power, a trade group representing coal interests, welcomed the announcement.
“Under previous administrations, federal regulations were written to target coal plants and force them to retire prematurely,” CEO Michelle Bloodworth said in a statement. “These coal retirements have put the reliability of the U.S. electricity grid at risk.”
