Today, Gov. Andy Beshear said that thanks to as much as $961 million in U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding and companies betting on Kentucky, he can announce five planned economic development projects over five days that could bring thousands of new jobs and billions in investment to the Commonwealth.
The Governor will be joined by company leaders and local officials Monday at the state Capitol to discuss the five proposed job-creating projects approved for federal funds, which include:
- Century Aluminum Co. plans to potentially build the first new U.S. primary aluminum smelter in 45 years in Northeastern Kentucky. The green aluminum smelter could be the largest investment on record in Eastern Kentucky and may bring 5,500 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs.
- Wieland North America Recycling intends to expand its U.S. recycling capacity and capabilities through significant investments into advanced, state-of-the-art copper scrap metal processing technology in Shelbyville. The project could be the largest investment in Shelby County’s history and is expected to create as many as 200 permanent jobs.
- Diageo Americas Supply Inc. would fund a project aiming to install heat batteries for deep decarbonization of the Bulleit facility in Shelbyville, which could bring construction jobs and community benefits to Kentucky.
- ISP Chemicals LLC, an Ashland Co., is engaging in conversations to build a chemical production electrification and heat storage project at their Calvert City chemical plant. The total project investment is approximately $70 million.
- Rye Development plans to build a first-of-its-kind $1.3 billion coal-to-pumped storage hydropower facility in Bell County that will create about 1,500 high-quality construction jobs and 30 operations jobs.
“We are building that better Kentucky we have all dreamed of – thousands of good jobs and billions of dollars in economic investments are planned – and we are announcing what could be the two largest projects ever in Eastern Kentucky, and possibly the largest project in Shelby County,” Gov. Beshear said. “We have so many people to thank for believing in Kentucky and our great workforce, including President Biden, Secretary Granholm, the teams at Century Aluminum, Wieland, Diageo, ISP Chemicals and Rye Development and all the supportive community partners.”
Chemical Production Electrification and Heat Storage Jobs in Calvert City
The Chemical Production Electrification and Heat Storage project, led by ISP Chemicals (Ashland), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Electrified Thermal Solutions (ETS), is engaging with the DOE to evaluate a project to replace natural gas boilers with electric heat delivered with a thermal battery, reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with steam generation by nearly 70% at Ashland’s Calvert City chemical plant. The project is supported with up to $35.2 million from the DOE Industrial Demonstrations Program funding. This project intends to demonstrate electrification with thermal heat storage as a scalable, highly replicable, readily deployable and customizable decarbonization solution for moderate heat processes across multiple hard-to-decarbonize sectors and could help remove the barrier to the electrification of high-temperature thermal processes, including supporting affordable off-peak-electricity rates for a 24/7 operation.
Ashland workers are unionized under the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which would have a significant role in workforce development. Ashland has met with IAM leadership at the local and national level to discuss workforce development needs, and their partnership expects to support thermal battery skills development with a training program. Ashland and project partner University of Kentucky both serve on the Calvert City Community Advisory Team (CCCAT), with Ashland participating for more than 30 years. The CCCAT consists of approximately 30 community members including local leaders, residents, clergy, educators, students, members of the media and representatives from local industry.
Click here for more information about DOE’s Industrial Demonstrations Program and the selected projects.