Research & Development

We’ve committed with our parent company, PPL, to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and are on track to achieve an 80% reduction from 2010 levels by 2040 and a 70% reduction by 2035. We believe that an all-of-the above approach is needed to support a sustainable clean energy transition. In that spirit, LG&E and KU have become global leaders in carbon capture technology that enables low carbon, dispatchable generation and supports energy reliability and resilience. We’re also researching green hydrogen technology that will enable us to store intermittent renewable energy. These clean energy research and development projects will help us meet PPL’s ambitious goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while keeping costs low for our customers.

In 2006, LG&E and KU founded the carbon capture program at the University of Kentucky (UK) and continue to partner with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) on this important research. In 2014, we deployed the capture technology that the team developed in a pilot-scale carbon capture unit at the E.W. Brown Generating Station, which is one of a few power plants in the United States today with an active carbon capture system. This joint research at our site has lowered capture costs by forty percent and lead to numerous patents and academic publications. In 2021, LG&E and KU continue to partner with UK studying carbon capture with natural gas using the existing carbon capture system at E.W. Brown. The next stage of this research would be to demonstrate carbon capture at LG&E and KU’s Cane Run Station, a natural gas combined cycle plant.

We are also working with our partners at UK, DOE, and EPRI’s Low Carbon Resource Initiative (LCRI) on hydrogen production and direct air capture technology capable of 90% carbon capture while producing 99.9% purity hydrogen gas. We have successfully demonstrated at UK’s laboratories in Lexington, Kentucky and are planning for a larger-scale demonstration. This technology could enable a generating unit to not only be net-zero, but even be net-negative, by capturing ambient carbon dioxide and producing hydrogen right out of thin air. We plan to continue to lead research, development, and demonstration of carbon capture and hydrogen production technology.

As part of research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, LG&E and KU and its research partners plan to install an additional carbon capture system. The new 20-megawatt research system planned for the utilities’ Cane Run Generating Station is designed to capture a portion of the CO2 from the natural gas plant’s flue gas using an advanced heat-integrated CO2 capture technology. The goal is to capture up to 240 tons of CO2 per day and up to 90,000 metric tons of CO2 per year – an amount equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of 20,000 gasoline-powered cars, according to OCED. This is an important step in assessing the future viability of utility-scale carbon capture technology on natural gas units.
 

Press Releases

PPL, affiliate partners selected for $72 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations

Capturing carbon for a sustainable future

LG&E and KU supporting Kentucky’s Hydrogen Hub efforts

Unique Public-Private Research Consortium Established CAER as CO2 Capture Pioneers

LG&E and KU and UK CAER collaborating to create net-negative CO2 emissions

CAER Project Seeks to Capture Carbon Directly from the Atmosphere | UKNow (uky.edu)

Governor, state officials and energy leaders cut ribbon on construction of Kentucky’s first carbon capture pilot system

LG&E and KU partners with research organizations across the country to explore new technologies.

We have partnered with the University of Kentucky (UK) on research projects since 1990. Today, we work with departments across the university, including the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK), where we are focused on renewable integration studies.

The University of Louisville (UofL) is another valued research partner that collaborates with the company on numerous engineering topics including a smart streetlight and methane emissions reduction projects.

We analyze data from the Kentucky Mesonet at Western Kentucky University, specifically solar irradiance and wind speed data collected across Kentucky, to help us plan for rapid deployment and integration of intermittent renewable generation.

We are members of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a nonprofit, collaborative research and development organization that supports the power industry. We collaborate with EPRI on research projects across our business, including generation, transmission, distribution, and sustainability.

Our parent company PPL is an anchor sponsor of the Low-Carbon Resource Initiative (LRCI) an EPRI and Gas Technology Institute (GTI) research program to accelerate the development of a low-carbon strategy. That initiative, chaired by PPL President and CEO Vince Sorgi, seeks advances in a variety of low-carbon electric generation technologies and low-carbon energy carriers, such as hydrogen, synthetic fuels, and biofuels.

We have partnered with our friends and neighbors at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill to manage the sheep providing vegetation management at our largest solar facility.

For our native pollinator habitats, we’ve partnered with Roundstone Native Seed Company. In addition to providing native wildflower and grass seed mixes, they handle site preparation, installing the seed mixes, and ongoing land maintenance for our pollinator habitats at E.W. Brown, Solar Share, Tyrone, Cane Run, and other facilities.

Our parent company PPL joined Energy Impact Partners, a global investment platform to help accelerate the shift to a low-carbon future and drive commercial-scale solutions needed to deliver deep, economywide decarbonization.

Press Releases

Kentucky company recognized for leadership and innovation