Utilities’ recycling program delivers savings despite challenging pandemic climate
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Gypsum, seen above, is created as LG&E and KU remove more than 97% of sulfur dioxide from power plant flue gas and is safely recycled through partnerships with Kentucky companies that use it to make wall board and fertilizer. Photo furnished
At a time when many are regaining their financial footing during the challenging climate of the COVID-19 pandemic, sister utilities Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company are set to deliver millions of dollars in revenue back to business and residential customers.
The revenue is the result of LG&E and KU’s essential, daily work to power the Bluegrass with much-needed energy and recycle the by-products left over from the power generation process.
As the utilities’ four coal-fired generating stations churn out the tens of thousands of megawatt-hours of electricity customers require each day, three different by-products are left over after the coal is burned. These materials – fly ash, bottom ash and gypsum – are often referred to as coal combustion residuals or CCRs. CCRs can vary slightly in their chemical properties depending on the characteristics of the coal they came from, such as where it was mined and how deep it was under the ground. As approved for many uses by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CCRs are able to be safely recycled and beneficially used to make products like concrete, cement, fertilizer, porcelain tile, wallboard and roofing shingles. In fact, Louisville’s new Lincoln and Lewis and Clark bridges were constructed using cement with fly ash from LG&E’s Mill Creek power plant.
LG&E and KU’s beneficial use program coordinates the sale of the utilities’ by-product materials to third-party companies for their production processes. The resulting contracts extend the life of LG&E and KU’s existing landfills, where the materials would otherwise be stored; eliminate the need for future landfills ahead of the eventual retirement of the remaining coal-fired facilities; and are increasingly generating more revenue, which the utilities route 100% back to customers as a credit primarily calculated into the environmental surcharge on bills each month.
Louisville’s new Lincoln Bridge was constructed using cement with fly ash from the company’s Mill Creek power plant. Photo furnished
Since 2016, beneficial use has generated more than $15 million in savings for LG&E and KU customers. Despite the ongoing pandemic, this year the company is on track to beneficially use nearly 90% of its coal combustion by-products and expects to return $10 million to customers.
“With the number of coal-fired plants across the U.S. on the decline, there are fewer suppliers of coal ash by-products, which is creating more demand from companies that use them and increasing the value of the materials,” said LG&E and KU Chief Operating Officer, Lonnie Bellar. “As we prepare to retire the coal-fired portion of our fleet over the next several decades, we’re able to maximize this opportunity, while they are still in operation, to create a meaningful savings for our customers.”
In addition to providing a benefit to customers, recycling the materials helps preserve virgin natural resources that would otherwise have been mined to produce cement and wallboard.
By-products that are not beneficially used are safely managed on-site by LG&E and KU at their power plants. As a result of the EPA's more stringent standards for handling the materials, LG&E and KU — along with other utilities across the country — launched aggressive projects to systematically close all of the utilities’ remaining ash ponds and wet surface impoundments, where the materials were previously stored. The utilities operate new CCR treatment and dry-processing facilities at their four coal-fired generating stations and constructed new state-of-the-art process water treatment facilities at each station to treat waters that come in contact with CCR materials.
As part of environmental efforts across the combined LG&E and KU generation fleet and throughout its business, LG&E and KU have committed with their parent company, PPL, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 70% from 2010 levels by 2040, and 80% by 2050. LG&E has already helped the city of Louisville reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 10%, and both utilities are increasingly adding more solar to further expand their system’s existing renewable generation, which includes two, nearly 100-year-old hydroelectric generating facilities. LG&E and KU continue to explore opportunities to add more cost-effective renewable energy sources for customers.
Visit lge-ku.com/environment to learn more about LG&E and KU’s environmental efforts.