NETL announced today up to $4.5 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) projects for fossil power plants.

The projects fall under an amendment to funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002001.000001, Crosscutting Research for Coal-Fueled Power Plants. This amended FOA aims to develop advanced dry cooling technologies suitable for fossil power plants.

Dry cooling is used to cool and condense steam in a thermoelectric power plant; however, costs and performance, particularly under hot conditions, remain a challenge. DOE will support projects that bring down costs and increase performance of dry cooling so it can be widely used and reduce water demand associated with power generation.

While this FOA requires cooling technologies to be applicable to coal power plants, it is anticipated that most will also be applicable to natural gas-fired power plants as well.

To learn more about the programs within the Office of Fossil Energy, visit their website HERE.