Restoring Reliability: Coal Recommissioning and Modernization

Key Facts

Status: Forecasted

Posted date: October 3, 2025

Archive date: December 13, 2025

Close date: November 13, 2025

Opportunity ID: 360731

Opportunity number: DE-FOA-0003605

Opportunity category: Discretionary

Agency name: Golden Field Office

Agency code: DOE-GFO

Award floor: $1

Award ceiling: $70,000,000

Cost sharing required: Yes

Funding Instrument Types
  • Other
Category of Funding Activity
  • Energy
Eligible Applicants
  • City or township governments
  • County governments
  • For-profit organizations other than small businesses
  • Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
  • Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
  • Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
  • Private institutions of higher education
  • Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
  • State governments
Tools
Categories (use these for quoted searches)
  • agency_code:doe_gfo
  • category_of_funding_activity:energy
  • cost_sharing_or_matching_requirement:true
  • eligible_applicants:city_or_township_governments
  • eligible_applicants:county_governments
  • eligible_applicants:for_profit_organizations_other_than_small_businesses
  • eligible_applicants:native_american_tribal_governments_federally_recognized
  • eligible_applicants:native_american_tribal_organizations_other_than_federally_recognized_tribal_governments
  • eligible_applicants:nonprofits_having_a_501_c_3_status_with_the_irs_other_than_institutions_of_higher_education
  • eligible_applicants:private_institutions_of_higher_education
  • eligible_applicants:public_and_state_controlled_institutions_of_higher_education
  • eligible_applicants:state_governments
  • funding_instrument_type:other
  • opportunity_category:discretionary
  • status:forecasted
Description

DE-FOA-0003605 Restoring Reliability Coal Recommissioning and Modernization. The United States is confronting an urgent grid capacity crisis. DOE’s 2025 Grid Reliability Assessment (DOE/GR-2025-001) confirmed that coal retirements outpace other reliable, affordable, and secure generation resources. These challenges are especially acute in regions with constrained transmission and sustained load growth. In January 2025, Executive Order 14156 declared a national energy emergency, directing DOE and other federal agencies to use their full statutory authority to ensure reliable, affordable and secure generation resources. The operational strain created by the increasing penetration of intermittent renewables has forced thermal units to cycle beyond their designed parameters, accelerating wear and raising the risk of forced outages and blackouts. This reliability emergency coincides with surging demand from national defense installations, semiconductor fabrication, AI data centers, critical mineral processing, and industrial re-shoring, all of which require uninterrupted access to reliable, affordable and secure power. Coal-fired generation assets, long central to U.S. energy security, retain valuable infrastructure make them uniquely positioned to deliver near-term reliability at scale. The recommissioning, retrofitting, and strategically repurposing these assets offers the fastest and most cost-effective path to restoring stability while supporting the nation’s industrial and security priorities.

Restoring Reliability: Coal Recommissioning and Modernization
DE-FOA-0003605 Restoring Reliability Coal Recommissioning and Modernization. The United States is confronting an urgent grid capacity crisis. DOE’s 2025 Grid Reliability Assessment (DOE/GR-2025-001) confirmed that coal retirements outpace other reliable, affordable, and secure generation resources. These challenges are especially acute in regions with constrained transmission and sustained load growth. In January 2025, Executive Order 14156 declared a national energy emergency, directing DOE and other federal agencies to use their full statutory authority to ensure reliable, affordable and secure generation resources. The operational strain created by the increasing penetration of intermittent renewables has forced thermal units to cycle beyond their designed parameters, accelerating wear and raising the risk of forced outages and blackouts. This reliability emergency coincides with surging demand from national defense installations, semiconductor fabrication, AI data centers, critical mineral processing, and industrial re-shoring, all of which require uninterrupted access to reliable, affordable and secure power. Coal-fired generation assets, long central to U.S. energy security, retain valuable infrastructure make them uniquely positioned to deliver near-term reliability at scale. The recommissioning, retrofitting, and strategically repurposing these assets offers the fastest and most cost-effective path to restoring stability while supporting the nation’s industrial and security priorities.
[Forecasted] Restoring Reliability: Coal Recommissioning and Modernization
Forecasted
Golden Field Office
Energy
Other
State governments
County governments
City or township governments
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
Private institutions of higher education
For-profit organizations other than small businesses
2025-10-03