Brownfield & Retired Power Plant Sites in Kentucky
22 catalogued brownfield and retired-generation sites in Kentucky, listed by former capacity. Each carries an existing utility-scale grid interconnection that a new datacenter load may be able to re-use.
At a glance
What kinds of former sites are in Kentucky?
By former use, the list includes 15 coal, 5 natural gas, 2 landfill. Recorded retirement dates run from January 2002 to December 2024, with 13 retirements in 2015 or later. 20 of 20 sites with a measured distance sit within 2 miles of a transmission substation.
How does Kentucky compare with other states?
Kentucky ranks 30th of 50 states and DC by number of brownfield and retired-generation sites, out of 2,085 nationally. By recorded capacity (7,422 MW) it ranks 11th, against 289,280 MW across all states. The state also has 7,741 scored datacenter candidate sites, 3 of them classed as brownfield sites, averaging 51.8 on the 0–100 DC Readiness scale.
Where in Kentucky are these sites?
- Jefferson County · 5
- Muhlenberg County · 2
- Clark County · 2
- Webster County · 2
- Lawrence County · 1
- Hancock County · 1
- Mercer County · 1
- McCracken County · 1
- Woodford County · 1
- Greenup County · 1
- Bell County · 1
- Fayette County · 1
- Mason County · 1
All brownfield and retired plant sites in Kentucky
| Site | Former use | Capacity | Retired | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paradise | coal | 2,558 MW | 2020-01-01 | Muhlenberg |
| Big Sandy | coal | 816 MW | 2015-05-01 | Lawrence |
| Cane Run | coal | 661 MW | 2019-12-01 | Jefferson |
| J K Smith | coal | 608 MW | — | Clark |
| Kenneth C Coleman | coal | 602 MW | 2020-09-01 | Hancock |
| HMP&L Station Two Henderson | coal | 405 MW | 2019-02-01 | Webster |
| Mill Creek (KY) | coal | 356 MW | 2024-12-01 | Jefferson |
| E W Brown | coal | 293 MW | 2019-02-01 | Mercer |
| Green River | coal | 264 MW | 2015-10-01 | Muhlenberg |
| Dale | coal | 216 MW | 2016-04-01 | Clark |
| Shawnee | coal | 175 MW | 2014-06-01 | McCracken |
| Tyrone | coal | 137 MW | 2013-02-01 | Woodford |
| Robert A Reid | coal | 96 MW | 2020-09-01 | Webster |
| SunCoke Energy South Shore Facility | coal | 90 MW | — | Greenup |
| Waterside GT | gas | 45 MW | 2006-08-01 | Jefferson |
| Pineville | coal | 38 MW | 2002-01-01 | Bell |
| Haefling | gas | 21 MW | 2013-12-01 | Fayette |
| Zorn | gas | 18 MW | 2021-12-01 | Jefferson |
| Paddys Run | gas | 16 MW | 2021-04-01 | Jefferson |
| Fort Campbell Solar Phase Two | landfill | 3 MW | — | — |
| Mason County LFGTE | gas | 2 MW | 2015-02-01 | Mason |
| Fort Campbell Solar Phase One | landfill | 2 MW | — | — |
Frequently asked questions
How many retired power plants are in Kentucky?
GridCensus lists 20 retired power plant sites in Kentucky from EIA-860 retirement records. 18 have a recorded retirement date, 13 of them in 2015 or later.
What is the largest retired power plant or brownfield site in Kentucky?
Paradise in Drakesboro is the largest by recorded capacity, at 2,558.2 MW. It is followed by Big Sandy (816.3 MW) and Cane Run (660.9 MW).
Which power plant in Kentucky retired most recently?
Mill Creek (KY) has the latest recorded retirement date in the state, December 2024, with 355.5 MW of capacity.
Which county in Kentucky has the most brownfield and retired plant sites?
Jefferson County has the most, with 5, followed by Muhlenberg County with 2.
How many EPA brownfield sites in Kentucky have completed cleanup?
2 of the 2 EPA-tracked sites listed for Kentucky are recorded as cleanup complete.
Looking for a specific record? The directory lists every brownfield site, A to Z.
More on Kentucky, and states with similar counts
- Datacenter candidate sites in Kentucky· 7,741 sites
- Electric substations in Kentucky· 190 named
- Brownfield candidate sites nationwide
- Brownfield sites by state
- Brownfield sites in Arizona· 23 sites
- Brownfield sites in Tennessee· 22 sites
- Brownfield sites in Maine· 25 sites
- Brownfield sites in New Mexico· 22 sites
About this data
Source: EIA-860 retired generating units and EPA RE-Powering America's Land contaminated-site records, as published March 6, 2026. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: GridCensus, “Brownfield and retired power plant sites in Kentucky”, https://gridcensus.com/brownfield-sites/kentucky (data as of March 6, 2026).
Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for brownfield sites in Kentucky is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.