The team of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Thar Energy, and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory/Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation will develop a high inlet temperature oxy-combustor suitable for integration into a direct-fired supercritical oxy‐combustion power plant for fossil energy applications. Phase I efforts would include: an evaluation of the direct-fired oxy‐combustion system using system engineering design and thermodynamic analysis to assess plant efficiencies with ancillary loads, verify operating conditions for the supercritical oxy‐combustor, and optimize the overall plant configuration; a technical gap analysis of the proposed plant to identify critical component and technology development needs; and the initial design of a supercritical oxy‐combustor suitable for direct‐fired oxy‐combustion using natural gas or syngas.