DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy Announces $7M in Funding for 7 Coal FIRST Projects to Advance

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has selected seven Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient, Small, Transformative) projects that aim to advance fossil energy technologies and further the sustainable use of fossil resources. The program was first announced in November 2018 as a way to fund research and development efforts that would make coal powered plants more compatible with the modern electrical grid. These seven projects will receive $7 million to advance their conceptual designs and develop preliminary front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) studies.

DOE chose seven out of 13 conceptual design studies that were completed by 11 different recipients as part of the first phase of the Coal FIRST effort. The seven projects have the promise to deliver key technology benefits that will increase the efficiency of coal-fired power plants, such as increasing overall system adaptability or reducing the cost and energy requirements. The seven projects well be led by:

• 8 Rivers Capital (Durham, NC)
• Allegheny Science & Technology Corporation (AST) (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Barr Engineering Co. (Minneapolis, MN)
• CONSOL Coal Company LLC (Canonsburg, PA)
• Echogen Power Systems Inc. (Akron, OH)
• Electric Power Research Institute Inc. (EPRI) (Palo Alto, CA)
• Nexant Inc. (San Francisco, CA)

ASME will continue to monitor the progress of R&D resulting from the program.