Three hydropower projects on the Kentucky River have received $55.9 million in federal funding.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the prices on Thursday.
The money would be used to build hydroelectric power stations in unused locks in the river.
According to the federal agency, the three projects together will produce enough electricity annually to power 4,800 homes in Madison, Jessamine and Lee counties.
“These investments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will lower costs for Americans and create good-paying jobs in rural communities for years to come,” said Xochitl Torres Small, the agency’s deputy secretary, in announcing the funding.
David Brown Kinloch, a Louisville engineer, is the agent for the companies that received money to develop hydroelectric power at Locks 9, 10 and 13.
Lock 14 is located in Lee County, where the three forks of the Kentucky River meet. Lock 10 is located between Madison and Clark County, and Lock 9 is located between Jessamine and Madison County.
Brown Kinloch has been working on developing power stations along the river for many years.
Brown Kinloch recently built hydroelectric plants in Lee and Estill counties that will allow Berea College to offset all of its carbon emissions.
These plants are also called run-of-river plants. This means that they use the flow of the river to drive turbines in the renovated lock chambers and generate electricity.
The three new factories would operate in the same way.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also provided $6.6 million to a company that will develop a solar array in Allen County.
The money for the projects is part of a program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, which the Biden administration pursued with a number of goals, including promoting the development of renewable energy.
Between 1836 and 1917, a total of 14 locks and dams were built on the Kentucky River to improve navigation from eastern and central Kentucky to the Ohio River. This allowed for the transportation of goods such as coal, lumber, and agricultural products.
Eventually, however, the river was no longer used for transport, but for railways and roads.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decommissioned most of the locks more than 30 years ago.
