East Kentucky Power Cooperative is looking to add new natural gas plants across Kentucky.
The utility plans to build a natural gas unit at Cooper Station in Pulaski County and another near Liberty in Casey County.
It’s also converting four coal units to also use natural gas, including two at Cooper Station and two more at Spurlock Station in Mason County.
Cooperative spokesperson Nick Comer says the decision to convert those units come from stricter EPA rules meant to reduce greenhouse gas.
“There are several options for how to mitigate that, including closing the units down by 2032 or investing in carbon capture technology, which is just extremely expensive. So this option provides a lot of flexibility,” Comer said.
The co-op says the projects will help them reach their goal of lessening their carbon emissions by 35% through the next decade.
Cooperative spokesperson Nick Comer says all projects are waiting on the final go-ahead from state regulators.
“The regulatory process for that, and key to that is the approval of the Kentucky Public Service Commission,” Comer said. “But our timeline for all of these projects is to have them in service by the end of 2030.”
Comer says they’re looking to add these projects to support new homes and businesses, to support renewable energy like solar and to keep their existing power grid reliable.
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