Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities to provide solar power for five organizations

Louisville Gas & Electric (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities (KU) will provide renewable energy to five major organizations in the utilities’ service territories — the University of Kentucky (UK), North American Stainless, the University of Louisville, Chemours, and Dow.

LG&E and KU, which are owned by PPL Corp., will provide 125-megawatt of solar energy to these organizations from a solar facility to be built in western Kentucky. The companies recently filed contracts with the Kentucky Public Service Commission to do so. The filing is made up of five separate renewable power agreements (RPAs). The action stems from each organization’s participation in LG&E and KU’s Green Tariff Option 3, a program designed to enhance renewable options for residential, commercial, and industrial customers.

Through the agreements, the utilities will supply the UK with 44 percent of the facility’s energy output, the biggest portion of its generation. North American Stainless will be served with 36 percent output from the facility, while the University of Louisville and Chemours will each be supplied with 8 percent of the generation. Dow will receive 4 percent of the output from the new facility. However, Dow already committed to receiving 25 percent of the energy output from a separate facility as part of a 2020 RPA.

BrightNight will build the new solar facility, which will be located in McCracken County, near Paducah. LG&E and KU will purchase the power from that facility. The new facility is expected to be completed by 2025. Costs are covered solely by the RPA participants receiving the energy through 20-year contract agreements. There is no cost to other LG&E or KU customers.

LG&E and KU have adopted a goal to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions across their business operations to net zero by 2050, with interim targets of 70 percent reduction from 2010 levels by 2035 and an 80 percent reduction by 2040.