A collaboration between the University of Kentucky, the state's largest utility, and other partners to implement a new system capturing greenhouse gas emissions has been terminated.
The Trump Administration recently ended two dozen energy-related funding awards including this one in Kentucky.
The $72 million award, which was terminated by the U.S. Department of Energy, funded the testing of a carbon capture system on a natural gas-fired turbine. It is operated by Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities.
Liam Niemeyer is a reporter with the Kentucky Lantern. He has been covering this story. In an interview with WEKU, he said this was a growing area of research for these utilities.
“This idea of trying to capture carbon emissions from natural gas-fired power plant, which utilities are increasingly investing in to meet the expected power demand of data centers.”
Carbon capture refers to technologies that seek to reduce climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels by capturing and storing C-O-2 before it’s released into the atmosphere.
Niemeyer said some people believe carbon capture could help extend the life of some fossil-fueled plants.
“Advocates for the technology really still do see carbon capture as a way to transition our country and the world eventually to cleaner energy while still being able to use natural gas and to a lesser extent, coal.”
He said some skeptics would rather just see the U.S. move over to more renewable energies such as wind or solar power.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a statement that canceling the approximately $3.7 billion in total awards was “in the best interest” of Americans.
Find out more about Liam Niemeyer's reporting on this subject here.
LG&E and KU are financial supporters of WEKU.
