“What are we going to do with all the fossil fuel infrastructure now that we are decarbonising? Is it reusable in some way? There must be a good idea.”
Dear World,
🌏 We warmly welcome you to Repower Initiative’s Newsletter #3!
Lots has been happening lately, we’d like to share our news!
🏢 Imagine 40 empire state buildings.
⚡ That’s how much coal is burned each day to make power
(~ 12.8 million tonnes)
⚫ Coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels, and the world’s largest CO2 emitter – but coal sites are extremely valuable assets.
Steam turbines, connections to the grid, skilled employees, buildings, permits, investments …
Coal boilers we should scrap. Let’s keep the rest!
‘Repowering’ means reusing coal infrastructure.
Swapping coal power for clean, low-carbon technologies, such as advanced nuclear, next-gen geothermal, and concentrated solar power is a smart way to decarbonise.
💸 It’s one of the largest opportunities in the energy sector today.
What’s our approach?
From global policy wins in Indonesia and Poland to leading-edge research with partners in China, South Korea, and Germany, we’re transforming the world’s coal fleet into a springboard for clean, reliable energy.
📑 We’ve written 20+ academic papers including an HSBC funded whitepaper: ‘Financing the Clean Repowering of Coal Power’
🌐 Our latest summit in Katowice, Poland drew 200+ international leaders, including government officials, presidents of Poland’s largest energy companies, coal asset owners, and major financial institutions.
🔢 We’ve scored ~10,000 coal units for repowering potential: RepowerScore
Tools, research, case studies, partnerships and events, all to accelerate the vital shift to a bright, decarbonised future.
The Repower Initiative’s momentum is growing.
Are you in?
🎥 Spotlight
We teamed up with the exceptionally talented filmmaker Joris Skudra to produce a short film to introduce the world to repowering.
The film captures our positive ethos and strong drive to see repowering projects succeed all around the world.
It’s 2 minutes – give it a watch!
🗺️ International Partnerships
We’re a diverse and multi-disciplinary network of scientists, technologists, policy makers, finance specialists, academics, researchers, clean energy transition professionals and more.
Here’s what we have been up to:
CHINA
Over 50% of total coal capacity is in China (1,171GW out of 2,143 GW) – it’s a core focus for our work.
We partner with experts at Xiamen University, Tsinghua University, China Power Engineering Consulting Group Corporation, and the International Society for Energy Transition Studies.
🎓 Dr. Yaoli Zhang is a leading academic in nuclear engineering and the integration of nuclear technologies. In collaboration with our global partners, including Dr. Staffan Qvist, Dr. Łukasz Bartela and Jeong Ik Lee, they published ‘Uncovering the Technical Potential of Coal-to-Nuclear (C2N) Power Generation on a Global Scale’ in Nexus.
🎓 Dr. Muyi Yang is the Secretary of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS). With his team, they have written:
‘Coal repowering in China: Beyond technology-centric perspective’ published in ‘Energy Strategy’.
This paper addresses the challenges repowering faces within China’s broader coal-electricity regime
- We’ve held discussions with officials from China’s nuclear energy enterprises, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission
- Established a new collaborative project with the International Atomic Energy Agency
What’s ahead?
A workshop will be organized by the end of October 2025.
For the first time in Beijing, Repower team is looking forward to co-hosting the workshop with the British Embassy, to gather international influencers and Chinese stakeholders (e.g. from NEA, State Council DRC, academia and industry) to discuss repurposing for China’s coal power plants.
Our team member Ms Qian Wu is leading the efforts on the ground.
GERMANY
💥 Hosted by Future Cleantech Architects, the Repower Initiative and Quantified Carbon combined our mindpowers and tools (including RepowerScore) to study repowering with thermal energy storage (TES) for higher variable renewables capacity.
Main conclusions
At a mere 1% system cost increase, the power system benefits were clear:
💶 Electricity prices: ↓ 2% (from 80 to 78 EUR/MWh)
🌍 Emissions: ↓ 3% (from 125 to 121 gCO₂/kWh)
📉 Price volatility: ↓ 3% negative prices, ↓ 10% prices above 200 EUR/MWh
🛢️ Import dependence: ↓ 3% in natural gas use (from 243 to 237 TWh)
🌬️ VRE integration: ↑ 3% in wind + solar generation (from 486 to 501 TWh)
See also Quantified Carbon’s report: Role of Nuclear in Germany’s Decarbonisation
INDONESIA
At least 30GW of coal power plant capacity across Indonesia could be repowered, which could be the largest carbon reduction initiative the country has yet seen.
We partner with the Institut Teknologi Bandung, a public research university in Bandung, Indonesia.
- ‘Repowering’ now included in Indonesia’s latest National Energy Policy and National Electricity Plan (RUKN)
- Case study of Tanjung Jati B Unit 1, a 600MW coal fired power plant in Jepara in Central Java
- PLN (Indonesia’s State Electricity Company) and the Ministry of Energy have shared enthusiasm about extending the life cycle of power plants instead of shutting them down
- New website for the Repower Indonesia team
What’s ahead?
• Campaigning for further policy reform
• Aiming for green light for a Repower pilot project in Indonesia
• A focus group discussion with Indonesian government and PLN in Nov 2025
🎥 Spotlight
Baroness Bryony Worthington, Founder and Adviser of the Repower Initiative, shares her thoughts in an insightful interview.
“Repowering turns a coal asset owner into someone who feels like they have a future, who can contribute to this transition, by giving them technologies they can integrate into their plants to pull down the coal burn and clean up their operations.”
POLAND
Poland made 62% of its electricity from burning coal in 2024. After centuries of burning coal, they are a nation at a turning point.
Our partners in Poland are DEsire – Platforma Transformacji Energetyki, with Dr. Łukasz Bartela at the helm. They began this journey with us, 6 years ago, with our first study: Retrofit Decarbonization of Coal Power Plants – A Case Study for Poland – they’ve had triumphant successes since then!
- The Coal-to-Nuclear pathway is now confirmed to be included in Poland’s Nuclear Energy Program (PPEJ). Poland’s 2nd nuclear power plant is now expected to be a Repowering project. This is huge news, and is the culmination of years of technical collaboration and advocacy at the highest levels of the Polish government
- Peer-reviewed report: ‘Assessment of sites for coal-to-nuclear transition in Poland’ used in planning for Poland’s second nuclear power site
- Łukasz was a panellist at an event in Bełchatów, Poland for called ‘From Coal to Atom. Bełchatów of the Future’, where 1,000 people turned up. Lukasz said “I have never seen such a strong integration of society in the fight for investment”
- Łukasz’s chapter on ‘From coal to nuclear – on the way to security’ included in a monograph of the Senate of the Republic of Poland
Dr. Staffan Qvist is the CEO and Founder of Repower Initiative:
“Highly recommend this wonderful long-form article from the Repower Initiative:‘The End of Coal, the Rise of the Atom: Repowering Poland’
It’s about the transition away from coal, and the potential role for Repowering these plants and of nuclear energy in Poland.
If you have a few minutes, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.”
What’s ahead?
A national modernisation plan for repowering coal power plants and power units with generation III / III + and IV nuclear reactors in coordination with Poland’s Ministry of Climate and Environment.
SOUTH KOREA
The Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), is a world-class science and technology university in South Korea.
Our partners at KAIST are led by two of the world’s most foremost experts in nuclear energy, power system analyses and carbon-free combustion technologies: Professor Jeong Ik Lee and Professor Nam il Kim.
What’s ahead?
Over the next two years, KAIST partners will deliver:
- A case study for Repowering a specific South Korean coal power plant
- Analytical and techno-economic evaluation of a hydrogen/co-firing system for repowering, specifically in the case of South Korea
- Workshops and outreach events
- Participation in conferences
🎥 Spotlight
Dr. Staffan Qvist’s Keynote Speech from the Repower World Summit 2025 was filmed: Global Pathways for Coal Repowering
“2TW of coal infrastructure has been built. What is the opportunity of having done this?
How do we make use of all of the investments that we’ve put into these plants to make our lives in the future easier?”
🔢 RepowerScore is our assessment tool in active development.
It expresses the suitability of Repowering a coal-fired power plant with clean energy sources – currently nuclear, advanced geothermal, concentrated solar power (CSP), and thermal energy storage (TES).
Other pathways such as ‘renewable interconnect point’ will be added.
~10,000 Coal units are scored on an expanding set of technical and geographical factors.
The higher the RepowerScore, the more suitable the coal unit is for Repowering!
Read an interview with the RepowerScore team
Repowerscore Version 7.0 launched!
- Thermal Energy Storage (TES) pathway added. Factors include:Age of the plantWater stress indexWater source proximityCountry variable renewable energy generationPlant power delivery type (heat/power)
- Global Energy Monitor (GEM) July 2025 data release
- Geothermal and CSP rework
- Preparing for multi-language support, including a Chinese version
- Improved texts in methodology
In the latest update to GEM, new data has been added for whether a coal unit is providing combined heat and power (CHP). There are ~3000 such operating units in the database.
This is incredibly useful for understanding what the unit is providing to the local community. If we want to maintain all the functions that the coal unit is fulfilling, a repowering pathway that can provide heat is more suitable.
This is reflected in an increase in scores for a thermal energy storage pathway in China, central Asia, and the US.
Residential heating is an especially interesting case for repowering, continuing to fulfil this need whilst decarbonising.
RepowerScore is an illuminating tool for academics, tech developers, utility companies, and the generally curious.
It’s free to play around with. Try it out for yourself!
Projects Status highlights selected Repowering projects in progress around the world.
📰 Regular news updates, LinkedIn posts and Quarterly Newsletter
👍 The Repower Initiative is an optimistic movement for global change
💡 This brief flirtation with fossil fuels will pave the way for a new and abundant era of low-carbon power
🌱 We believe in a clean and peaceful future where we respect our beautiful planet, and are committed to combine our hearts, minds and willpower to make this a reality
Get involved!
Spread the word. Forward this newsletter to your friends, colleagues, energy ministers, local bridge group.
More people should know about the Repowering pathway; we need your help!
- Email us at news@repower.world – we’d love to hear from you
- Follow our LinkedIn Page – regular updates, latest research
- Explore our website – we have resources, news and events
- Enjoy our new YouTube channel – interviews, speeches, short films
- 👍 SMASH that like button, subscribe and leave a comment (or whatever it is YouTubers are saying these days)
- Are you a potential partner looking for funding? Let’s talk
- Donate! – Vox said that we are one of the eleven “most high-impact, cost-effective, evidence-based organizations for fighting climate change effectively” – we’re just saying…