[1/x] Happy to announce the publication of “RETROFIT DECARBONIZATION of COAL POWER” (open access https://t.co/JxrMtLS9gf, @energies_mdpi). A riveting 39-page article (+ 44p S.I.), obviously makes for excellent holiday/wknd reading :) Here's an attempt at a tweet-summary-thread!

[2/x] Out of ~2 TWe of coal power plant capacity, more than half is less than 14 years old. Can this infrastructure play a role in decarbonized power systems or must it all be stranded? We try to look at ALL options in this work, supported by @EnvDefenseEuro & Rodel Foundation.

[3/x] Capacity-averaged age of all coal power in operation today is ~18 years. Committed emissions from existing and under-construction coal power is ~300 GTCO2-eq (294 is our central estimate, IEA say ~328). Each new 1 GW-plant commits to ~0.2 GT additionally.

[4/x] We define the term RETROFIT DECARBONIZATION to include _anything_ done to keep existing some coal plant equipment in operation (>5 % of org. plant capex), approx. maintaining its function (>50 % of org. annual generation) while eliminating emissions (<50 gCO2-eq/kWh).

[5/x] Many retrofit options were assessed (some shown here). Emissions reqs. put tough pressure on biomass & CCS. Putting wind & solar at former coal sites is a great idea, but power dens. diff. mean they don't qualify as retrofit decarb. What really works? Geothermal & Nuclear!