Power plants in Kentucky emit a combined 54.1M metric tons of CO₂ per year. The table below ranks the top emitters — predominantly coal and natural gas plants. Emission rates vary widely even within the same fuel type: efficient combined-cycle gas plants produce roughly 900 lb CO₂/MWh, while older coal plants can exceed 2,200 lb/MWh.
Emissions data comes from the EPA eGRID program. Zero-emission sources (nuclear, solar, wind, hydro) are excluded from this ranking. For methodology details, see the methodology page.
| # | Plant | State | Fuel | CO₂ (tons/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ghent | Kentucky | Coal | 10.6M |
| 2 | Mill Creek (Ky) | Kentucky | Coal | 7.9M |
| 3 | Trimble County | Kentucky | Coal | 7.6M |
| 4 | H L Spurlock | Kentucky | Coal | 7.3M |
| 5 | Shawnee | Kentucky | Coal | 6.4M |
| 6 | D B Wilson | Kentucky | Coal | 3.5M |
| 7 | Paradise | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 2.8M |
| 8 | East Bend | Kentucky | Coal | 2.7M |
| 9 | Cane Run | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 2.0M |
| 10 | E W Brown | Kentucky | Coal | 1.2M |
| 11 | Big Sandy | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 697.4k |
| 12 | Cooper | Kentucky | Coal | 530.8k |
| 13 | Riverside Generating Llc | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 312.6k |
| 14 | J K Smith | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 306.6k |
| 15 | R D Green | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 118.0k |
| 16 | Marshall Energy Facility | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 102.2k |
| 17 | Pps Power Plant No 1 | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 67.4k |
| 18 | Bluegrass Generating Station | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 25.7k |
| 19 | Paddys Run | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 17.5k |
| 20 | Paris (Ky) | Kentucky | Oil | 273 |
| 21 | Kentucky Mills | Kentucky | Biomass | 17 |
| 22 | Haefling | Kentucky | Natural Gas | 14 |
PowerPlantsNearMe.com. (2026). Most Polluting Power Plants in Kentucky. Derived from EIA Form 860, EIA Form 923, and EPA eGRID. Retrieved from https://powerplantsnearme.com/most-polluting-power-plants/kentucky
Click the citation to select it for copying. For bulk data, see the data downloads page.