Kentucky Utilities to retire some of its oldest coal-fired units

A mix of stricter environmental standards and customer desire for greater energy efficiency has moved the Kentucky Utilities Company to announce the pending retirement of two of its oldest coal-fired units.

“We are continually looking for opportunities to reduce costs for customers while maintaining a reliable supply of energy,” Paul W. Thompson, LG&E and KU president and COO, said. “Retiring two of our oldest and most expensive coal-fired generating units, while also avoiding more costly environmental capital expenditures for compliance, benefits our customers.”

Importantly, the company announced that no employees will be terminated as a result of this change. New projects are being engaged that will make up for any loss involved in the two systems’ closure.

While KU had several alternatives to the closures, stricter rules such as the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule and utilizing increased LED lighting on site convinced the company that closure would be the most cost-effective solution for its customers. The two units to be retired will come from the E.W. Brown Generating Station, though neither will actually be taken offline until February 2019.

The pair’s closure will make eight coal-fired generating units taken offline by KU and the Louisville Gas and Electric Company in the last five years. That said, these two units represented the most expensive to maintain units remaining in the company’s coal operations.