A $350 million Department of Energy (DOE) coal-revival program has put $18.5 million toward the TerraSpark Energy Campus, a 1.6-GW greenfield project in West Virginia pairing Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) supercritical boilers with Mantel Capture’s molten borate carbon capture.
In responses to POWER, developer TerraSpark laid out a 2030 startup target, a 95% to 98% capture design, and a four-pathway plan for the captured CO2.New coal-fired generation has been effectively off the table in the U.S. for more than a decade
The TerraSpark Energy Campus is testing whether that’s still true. The DOE’s selection of the Grant County, West Virginia, project for up to $18.5 million in development funding is a notable signal that surging electricity demand—driven by data centers, manufacturing, and electrification—is forcing a fresh look at baseload coal.The award will support front-end engineering and design (FEED), permitting work, and early technical studies for the greenfield facility, which would be sited near the existing Mt. Storm energy complex.
Combined with $21.5 million in non-federal cost share from the developer, the scoping and design phase carries a total value of roughly $40 million. Project developer TerraSpark—legally TerraPurus Inc., doing business as TerraSpark Inc.—announced the award on June 4.”Electricity demand in the United States is growing rapidly, and we need infrastructure that can keep up,” said Bill Tolpegin, partner and founder of TerraSpark. “This project is about delivering reliable power when it’s needed, creating skilled, good-paying jobs, and helping advance carbon management technologies that strengthen America’s energy future.” Four Awards, One Federal Coal Program The TerraSpark award is one of four selections, totaling $350 million, that the DOE announced June 4 under Topic Area 1 of its “Restoring Reliability: Coal Recommissioning and Modernization” Broad Agency Announcement (DE-FOA-0003605). The $525 million program, launched in September…