Two new sections of LG&E and KU’s Solar Share facility up and running
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The subscription-based Solar Share program is available to LG&E and KU residential, business and industrial customers who want to support solar energy for as little as 20 cents per day.
Construction is complete and two new sections of LG&E and KU’s Solar Share facility in Simpsonville, Ky. are now fully operational and producing energy for customers participating in the utilities’ program.
More than 1,300 LG&E and KU residential customers and several business customers ― including Louisville-area nonprofit Center for Women and Families, Louisville-based printing and fulfillment services company V.G. Reed & Sons, and the Campbellsville division of global industrial services company Ingersoll Rand ― are subscribers in sections three and four, making the Solar Share site now 50% complete.
“Watching the site develop and knowing it is a direct result of our customers’ interest and participation has been both exciting and rewarding,” said LG&E and KU Vice President-Customer Services Eileen Saunders. “We developed this program in response to their desire to support local solar generation and we’re pleased to continue helping all of our customer categories advance their personal and professional sustainability goals.”
The subscription-based Solar Share program is available to the utilities’ residential, business and industrial customers who want to support solar energy for as little as 20 cents per day.
When energy is produced by the facility, customers earn credits on their monthly bills based on their subscription level. By participating in the program, customers get the benefits from solar energy without added expenses that come when installing and maintaining a private solar system. Since July 2019, the facility has produced more than 2 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy for participating customers.
LG&E and KU’s primary contract partner for sections three and four, Solar Alliance Inc., completed construction of the sections in June. Both consist of 1,150 solar panels.
A total of eight 500-kilowatt Solar Share sections are planned for the Simpsonville facility, for a total of 4 megawatts. Construction of each section is completed as each becomes fully subscribed. The fifth section is 80% subscribed, and the utilities are currently accepting enrollments.
The site includes a pollinator habitat with more than 60 native plants that create an environment that attracts and supports pollinators such as native bees, honey bees and monarch butterflies.
Solar site enhancements
LG&E and KU’s Solar Share property is one of several company properties where pollinator habitats are in full bloom, rich with more than 60 native plants that create an environment that attracts and supports pollinators such as native bees, honey bees and monarch butterflies. Other benefits of pollinator habitats include beautifying the landscape, supporting grassland birds, reducing water runoff and soil erosion, reduced maintenance costs and educational opportunities.
Other pollinator habitats are being installed at the company’s Cane Run and retired Tyrone station properties and more than 100 acres of pollinator habitat and native grasslands are being established at E.W. Brown Generating Station in Mercer County. In addition, in partnership with Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, a flock of 35 Shetland and Katahdin sheep was added at Brown’s 10-megawatt universal solar site last spring. The flock, which has already begun multiplying, is expected to expand three-fold, eventually helping manage vegetation across the entire solar property at Brown, which will reduce maintenance costs.
Visit lge-ku.com/environment/solar to learn more about LG&E and KU’s Solar Share program and other renewable energy programs and initiatives.