PPL Completes Deal for as Much as $72 Million for Clean-Energy Project in Kentucky

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

PPL Corp. has completed a deal for as much as $72 million in federal funding for a clean-energy project in Kentucky.

The company said the agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy has been executed, clearing the way for a project to capture carbon dioxide at a natural gas “combined-cycle” electricity plant in Louisville.

Carbon dioxide has been linked to global warming.

PPL has received $4.9 million to start.

“Carbon capture” projects keep the greenhouse gas from reaching the atmosphere. Once captured, CO2 can be stored underground or used by industry.

PPL subsidiaries Kentucky Utilities, and Louisville Gas and Electric, are working on carbon capture with the University of Kentucky and other organizations.

The total investment is projected at more than $100 million. It will be at PPL’s Cane Run generating station.

The Cane Run project is part of PPL’s environmental strategy.

“We understand that delivering net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 will require faster action and commercialization of new technology than our industry has ever achieved, and it will require utilities leading the way on innovation,” PPL Chief Executive and President Vincent Sorgi said in the company statement.

The carbon dioxide captured from the natural gas generating plant will be used by an industrial customer, under current plans.

Allentown-based PPL is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: PPL). The closing price Monday was $32.68, giving the company a market capitalization of $24.1 billion.