Two local companies receive part of $1.95M federal investment in coal

April 15, 2019

Luke Torrance
Pittsburgh Business Times

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Friday that it was giving out $1.95 million in grants as a precursor to a $100 million investment in clean coal plants, and two local companies got a cut.

Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Science and Technology received $149,998 and Canonsburg-based CONSOL Pennsylvania Coal Company received $147,000. They were two of 13 projects to receive funding for conceptual designs under the request for proposals for coal-based power plants of the future, according to the department's press release.

The $1.95 million grants are part of a larger initiative to boost the coal industry through research and development. These projects will work to create coal power plants that have flexible operations to meet the needs of the electrical grid, use cutting-edge components to increase efficiency and decrease emissions, and are smaller than traditional coal plants.