(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) - E.ON U.S., parent of Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, today announced that it has committed $25 million to join the FutureGen Alliance, the non-profit consortium of global electric utilities and coal companies working with the U.S. Department of Energy to site and develop FutureGen, the world's first coal-fired, near "zero emissions" power plant.

E.ON U.S., a subsidiary of the world's largest investor-owned energy services provider, E.ON AG, will represent all of the company's market units worldwide. It becomes the eleventh member of the Alliance, which is facilitating the design, construction and operation of the first near "zero-emissions" coal-fueled power plant and hydrogen production facility with integrated carbon capture sequestration.

"E.ON U.S. has been actively engaged in the debate about how to successfully address global climate change since the early 70s, when we were the first utility to install scrubbers at our power plants," said Victor A. Staffieri, Chairman, CEO and President of E.ON U.S. The FutureGen project marks an important addition to the future energy supply portfolio. Together with other E.ON market units worldwide, E.ON U.S. brings a strong global set of expertise to this partnership of global coal and energy producing players."

FutureGen Alliance Chairman Dr. Charles Goodman, Senior Vice President of Generation Policy for Southern Company, added: "E.ON U.S.'s participation adds to the Alliance's expertise and demonstrates growing international cooperation to meet long-term global energy challenges through clean energy from coal. FutureGen is continuing a steady march toward development with a powerhouse coalition of global energy partners spanning five continents."

E.ON U.S.'s $25 million commitment to FutureGen follows other significant environmental investments made by the company. In April, the University of Kentucky's Center for Applied Energy Research received a three-year, $1.5 million commitment from E.ON U.S. to study technology to reduce greenhouse gases. The company also was a charter member of the Electric Power Research Institute's "CoalFleet For Tomorrow" program, a research effort founded with the goal of making a portfolio of advanced coal technologies more accessible and affordable for power producers and society.

The Alliance decided upon a short list of candidate sites in July. The Department of Energy will review the candidate sites in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act prior to the Alliance's selection of a final site by late-summer 2007.

The nominal 275-MW FutureGen plant will commercially produce electricity for about 150,000 average U.S. homes. The plant will gasify the coal through a process that will convert the coal's carbon to synthesis gas comprised of mostly hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The synthesis gas will react with steam to produce additional hydrogen and a concentrated stream of carbon dioxide.

The hydrogen will be used as a clean fuel in applications such as electricity generation in turbines or fuel cells, or hybrid combinations of these technologies. The captured carbon dioxide will be separated from the hydrogen and permanently stored in deep saline formations, unmineable coal seams, depleted oil and gas formations, or other geologic formations.

Ninety percent of the total carbon dioxide produced by the plant is expected to be captured initially. With advanced technologies, this type of plant may eventually be able to capture up to 100 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

This effort will lay the groundwork for developing similar power plants throughout the world. The FutureGen Alliance represents some of the world's largest coal companies and electric utilities including: American Electric Power, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, the China Huaneng Group, CONSOL Energy Inc., E.ON U.S., Foundation Coal, Rio Tinto Energy America, Peabody Energy, PPL, and Southern Company. The Alliance is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy to design and build the facility, and is receiving support from the governments of South Korea and India. Alliance member companies provide energy to tens of millions of residential, business, and industrial customers in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, the People's Republic of China, South Africa and the United States, among other regions.

E.ON U.S., headquartered in Louisville, Ky., is a subsidiary of E.ON A.G., the world's largest investor-owned energy services provider. E.ON U.S. is a diversified energy services company that owns and operates Louisville Gas and Electric Company, a regulated utility that serves 321,000 natural gas and 394,000 electric customers in Louisville and 16 surrounding counties, and Kentucky Utilities Company, a regulated electric utility in Lexington, Ky., that serves 525,000 customers in 77 Kentucky counties and five counties in Virginia.