The deal includes the supply of high-Btu output from its Blacksville No. 2 mine in Pennsylvania and the Loveridge operation in West Virginia, totalling 29 million tons annually to PPL’s Montour and Brunner Island Stations.

The contract will commence in 2008 and run through to 2018, in line with PPL’s scheduled scrubber retrofit projects at the two eastern Pennsylvania facilities, Consol executives said.

No financial details were released, though a PPL spokesperson told Associated Press the contract was at "current forward prices."

Consol president J Brett Harvey said he anticipated Consol’s market advantage to grow as other energy facilities in close proximity of its mines perform scrubber retrofits, allowing previously unviable coal sources to be burnt safely.

“We offer our customers a high-Btu product, a secure, flexible supply, and reliable, cost-effective transportation options,” he said. “We anticipate that the demand for coal from our extensive reserve base in Northern Appalachia will increase substantially.”

Including the PPL arrangement, Consol Energy’s sales agreements for the year to date total over 230Mt of coal equaling more than $US10 billion in initial value.