How Kentucky’s utilities are empowering a sustainable energy future
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LG&E and KU have adopted fleet electrification targets as part of the company’s overall efforts toward a clean energy future. Photo by Mac Brown Media
For many, a new year means setting new goals and committing to actions to achieve them. For Kentucky’s largest utilities, the goals are not new, but there is a renewed commitment to continue pursuing a comprehensive, strategic transition toward a sustainable energy future for the Commonwealth. It’s a transition that is already well underway.
Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities are part of a commitment made by parent company PPL to achieve net-zero carbon (CO2) emissions by 2050, with interim reduction targets of 70% from 2010 levels by 2035 and 80% by 2040. It reflects reducing carbon emissions over time in the utilities’ generation fleet and non-generation operations, and an approach involving all of the following:
• Investing in the utilities’ electric and transmission systems.
• Advancing access to electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and vehicles.
• Partnering with customers who have renewable energy goals to build new solar energy systems.
• Propelling the advancement and development of carbon capture technologies.
Collaborative research
LG&E and KU and the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) announced a study late last year on capturing CO2 emissions at natural gas combined-cycle power plants. The research could later be put to test at the utilities’ Cane Run natural gas combined-cycle plant.
This latest research builds on a relationship that started in 2006 when LG&E and KU were an initial investor in the center’s carbon capture technology research program. They partnered again in 2014, and with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), on a pilot-scale carbon capture research facility hosted at KU’s E.W. Brown Generating Station. The joint research led to lowered capture costs by 40% and numerous patents and academic publications.
“The ability to test our technology at an operating power plant is critical to the development of new knowledge,” said Heather Nikolic, research program manager at CAER. “You can learn a lot in a traditional laboratory setting, but such learning has its limitations. If you want to determine how something is going to work in a real-life situation, you have to operate in a real-life situation. I can’t thank our partners at LG&E and KU enough for allowing us to work and learn alongside them. It has been a rewarding partnership.”
Driving change
LG&E and KU are among nearly 20 U.S. utilities to join the recently formed Electric Highway Coalition, supporting the development of a seamless network of rapid EV charging stations connecting major highway systems. LG&E and KU’s membership complements their nearly two dozen publicly accessible vehicle charging stations already in operation across their service territories and customer offering for businesses to host charging stations at their properties. The utilities have also adopted fleet electrification targets and operate EVs — large and small — today.
LG&E and KU’s ongoing carbon capture technology research partnerships with UK CAER have lowered capture costs by 40% and led to numerous patents and academic publications.
Tailored customer offerings
Customers who want to support 100% renewable energy can use the utilities’ Renewable Choice Calculator to explore the options available, including Solar Share, which can cost less than 20 cents per day. LG&E and KU’s Green Tariff enhances renewable options for residential, commercial and industrial customers who have renewable energy goals. Approved by the KPSC in 2019, the Green Tariff rolls the utilities’ Green Energy and Business Solar programs under one tariff and provides a third option — the Renewable Power Agreement — for large customers interested in purchasing renewable power. The utilities’ current RPA agreements with prominent companies and educational institutions will result in the construction of two of the largest solar projects,100 megawatts and 125 megawatts respectively, here in the Commonwealth.
Learn more about the LG&E and KU’s ongoing efforts and initiatives to empower a sustainable energy future in Kentucky.
Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, part of the PPL Corporation family of companies, are regulated utilities that serve more than 1.3 million customers. More information is available at lge-ku.com.