The U.S. Department of Energy on Feb. 11 announced $175 million in funding for six projects to modernize, retrofit, and extend the useful life of coal-fired power plants that serve rural and remote communities across the United States.
The projects are part of the Department’s $525 million effort to expand and reinvigorate America’s coal fleet through targeted upgrades that increase efficiency, extend plant life, and add dependable capacity using infrastructure that is already built and connected to the grid, it said.
Selected projects include the following:
- Appalachian Power Company (Letart and Winfield, West Virginia) will upgrade two coal-fired plants in West Virginia: the Mountaineer Power Plant in Letart and the John E. Amos Power Plant in Winfield.
- Buckeye Power Inc. (Brilliant, Ohio) will perform a comprehensive suite of upgrades targeting critical systems at its Cardinal Plant coal-fired Units 1 and 2.
- Duke Energy Carolinas LLC (Sauratown Township, North Carolina) will upgrade two coal-fired units at the Belews Creek Steam Station.
- Kentucky Utilities Corporation (Ghent, Kentucky) will increase the annual capacity factor of Unit 2 of the coal-fired Ghent Generating Station.
- Monongahela Power Company (Maidsville, West Virginia) will upgrade the Fort Martin Power Station, which consists of two coal-fired generating units.
- Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (Cheshire, Ohio) will upgrade all five coal-fired generating units at the Kyger Creek Station.
