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Pike County Kentucky Plans World Class Energy Research Center

Photo of downtown Pikeville. Pike County Kentucky, America's Energy Capital

Pike County, America’s Energy CapitalTM, is planning the development of an energy research park to fill a critical national need as America sets its sights on energy independence. The focus of this initiative will be twofold. First, to assist in the demonstration and rapid market deployment of innovative energy systems for producing liquid and gas fuels, electricity, and strategic chemicals from America’s vast and diverse endowment of domestic resource, including coal, biomass, oil shale, wind, hydro, and carbon dioxide. In addition, secondly, to help train the technical and non-technical workforce necessary to design, supply, operate and maintain the large number of new energy facilities that are on the horizon.

This new Pike County-based energy park will be named the Appalachian Energy Research Center (AERC). It is envisioned to be a consortium of regional universities, including the University of Kentucky (UK), with Pike County as the hosting partner. UK’s Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) will be an important partner as well. “Dr. Lee Todd, president of the University of Kentucky, is very excited about the potential the AERC offers the university, the state, and the country,” says Roger Ford, Pike County’s new energy czar. Through strong affiliations with leading universities, AERC will provide classes and on-the-job training for engineers, geologists, chemists, biologists, forestry majors, business students, and many other disciplines as well. Such educational programs are critical to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding energy sector.

Carbon capture, application, and storage/sequestration (CCAS) methods, technologies and projects will be a core focus of the new AERC initiative as well as the ever-expanding field of gasification. Productive applications of carbon dioxide to enhance oil, gas, coalbed methane, and Ag crop growth represent a new and exciting growth industry for Kentucky and the nation. CCAS offers the potential for tremendous increases in the domestic production of oil and gas, while at the same time reducing CO2 emissions. Gasification and related technologies will help to facilitate this new CCAS industry with the ability to inexpensively capture carbon dioxide for productive use.

“America has the resources and the technologies to be energy independent,” notes Pike County Judge/Executive Wayne T Rutherford. “Pike County is graciously endowed with a wide portfolio of strategic energy resources. My staff and I are excited to be leading such an important effort, assisting to develop methods and technologies that harvest our resources in economic, environmentally responsible ways. Our local communities, the Appalachian region, and the nation must become more energy secure and independent in order to pass along the legacy of American freedom and economic opportunity to future generations.”

As part of its workforce development and training thrust, AERC will have a close affiliation with Dr. William Higginbotham and the Kentucky Coal Academy (KCA), a branch of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). Combination AERC and KCA educational programs will incorporate the Coal Academy’s present “cutting edge” curriculum to train our new mining workforce. Kentucky Coal Academy’s coal miner training can be expanded to workforce training for all energy industries ranging from plant workers to technical support as part of its affiliation with Appalachian Energy Research Center.