East Kentucky Power is moving forward with a conversion of its coal plants to run partially on natural gas.
The Trump administration has moved to repeal a Biden-era rule that would force coal plants to convert to gas or retire by 2032.
Amid ongoing legal challenges to the rule and its repeal, East Kentucky Power told state regulators this week that it’s moving forward on a project to co-fire its Spurlock and Cooper plants in Mason and Pulaski counties.
Julia Tucker, senior vice president of power supply and planning, told the Kentucky Public Service Commission that the conversions would give East Kentucky Power more flexibility.
The plants could use coal or gas, depending on market conditions or regulatory changes.
“So it gives us a huge benefit that we don't have today,” Tucker testified in a hearing in Frankfort on Tuesday. “For that reason, we want to move ahead, regardless. It also then insulates us against the rules changing today and then changing back in the future. So we think it's the right thing to do, regardless of what happens with that rule.”
East Kentucky Power has applied for a $90 million federal grant to assist in the conversions.
According to company documents, it would cost $187 million to convert all four coal units at Spurlock to co-fire with gas. It would cost $74 million to convert Unit 2 at Cooper. Both conversions would be operational by the end of 2029.
Cooper has another coal unit, Unit 1. In documents filed to the PSC, East Kentucky Power describes Cooper 1 as “mothballed.”
Nick Comer, a spokesman, said Cooper 1 is not part of the plant’s regular operation and is instead maintained to operate during emergencies.
For example, Comer said Cooper 1 operated for 10 consecutive days during the extreme winter weather in January. He said the unit offset $6 million in purchased power costs during the storm.
Cooper 1 operated about 1,800 hours in each of the past two years, Comer added.
Cooper 1 will not be converted to co-fire with gas.
East Kentucky Power plans to build a 745-megawatt combined-cycle gas plant at the Cooper site in Burnside. The $1.3 billion project will be operational by the end of 2030.
For comparison, Cooper 2 generates 225 megawatts. At more than 1,300 megawatts, Spurlock, near Maysville, accounts for 40% of East Kentucky Power’s total fleet capacity.
Read more about East Kentucky Power’s generation plans here.
