Fossil fuel site repurposing (e.g. converting gas plants to storage or clean generation)

The world needs to replace fossil fuels with clean energy sources fast — but we're not moving nearly quickly enough. Even as solar and wind costs have plummeted, we're still adding more fossil fuel capacity than clean energy in many regions. The challenge isn't just building more renewable power plants. It's also storing that energy when the sun isn't shining, upgrading ancient electrical grids, speeding up painfully slow permitting processes, and dealing with the reality that we've already built trillions of dollars worth of coal and gas infrastructure that someone paid for and expects to keep running.

Meanwhile, nearly a billion people still lack electricity entirely, and even in wealthy countries, our energy systems are rigid and wasteful. We need technology solutions that make clean energy cheaper, faster to deploy, and more reliable than fossil fuels — not just sometimes, but always.

The world has invested trillions of dollars in coal plants, gas pipelines, oil refineries, and other fossil fuel infrastructure — much of it built recently and expected to operate for decades. Utilities, governments, and investors who paid for this infrastructure have strong financial incentives to keep it running, even as clean alternatives become cheaper.

We need solutions that can either repurpose existing fossil fuel assets for clean energy use or provide economic pathways for early retirement without stranding investments.

Technologies and strategies that convert existing fossil fuel infrastructure for clean energy use. Gas plants can be retrofitted to burn hydrogen or converted to battery storage sites. Coal plant sites often have excellent grid connections that can support solar or wind farms. This preserves existing investments while accelerating clean energy deployment.