How far has clean repowering of coal power plants progressed—and what could help it scale? The Global State of Repowering presents the Repower Initiative’s first global scan of projects assessed against a consistent, demanding definition. It distinguishes projects that meet the report’s criteria from partial heat-source substitutions, thermal energy storage, and developments that reuse coal sites without retaining generating-plant infrastructure.
About this report
Coal power sites contain infrastructure that may support a transition to clean energy. The Global State of Repowering examines where that infrastructure is being reused, what qualifies as repowering, and what more is needed to move projects from early examples to scale.
The 2026 scan applies three criteria: a project must replace coal-fired heat with a source that cuts lifecycle emissions by at least 90%, retain at least one qualifying asset from the existing generating plant, and remain on the original site. The report records other transition steps separately, including partial heat-source substitution, thermal energy storage, and reuse of coal sites.
