LOUISVILLE, Ky. — LG&E and KU Company filed with the Kentucky Public Service Commission contracts to provide renewable energy to five major organizations in their service territories. The contracts with the University of Kentucky, North American Stainless, the University of Louisville, The Chemours Company, and Dow will supply the entities with solar energy from a 125-megawatt solar facility to be constructed in western Kentucky.
The filing with the KPSC is made up of five separate renewable power agreements (RPAs) — one with each entity. The agreements are the result of each company’s participation in LG&E and KU’s Green Tariff Option 3. The offering is one of LG&E and KU’s ongoing efforts to enhance renewable options for residential, commercial, and industrial customers to help meet their various renewable energy goals.
Approved by the KPSC in 2019, the utilities’ Green Tariff rolls the LG&E and KU Green Energy and Business Solar programs under one tariff and provides a third option — the “Renewable Power Agreement” — for customers interested in purchasing renewable power.
The contracts and the resulting solar facility continue LG&E and KU’s advancement of RPAs with major organizations that began in 2020; rank among the largest solar projects planned for Kentucky, and demonstrate a substantial commitment to sustainable energy by some of the commonwealth’s most prominent companies and educational institutions.
Based on the agreements, the utilities will supply UK with 44% of the facility’s energy output, the biggest portion of its generation. North American Stainless will be served with 36% output from the facility. The University of Louisville and The Chemours Company will each be supplied with 8% of the generation. Dow, which has already committed to receiving 25% of the energy output from a separate facility as part of a 2020 RPA, will receive 4% of the output from this newest facility.
As part of a request for proposals issued in January, renewable power provider BrightNight was selected as the winning bidder. LG&E and KU will purchase the power to be provided from a solar facility BrightNight will construct in McCracken County, Kentucky, near Paducah.
“We’re excited to support LG&E and KU’s leadership in decarbonized power investment with our industry-leading project. In addition to the clean renewable power produced, the project will also generate significant local economic investment and job creation, making it a model of the clean power market transformation,” said Martin Hermann, BrightNight CEO.
Costs associated with the facility 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, who will not receive energy from the facility. The solar facility is expected to be completed and commercially available by 2025.
Through partnerships like these and sustainable efforts across their business, LG&E and KU are committed to advancing a renewable energy future and empowering their customers and communities to do the same. Together with parent company PPL Corporation, LG&E and KU have adopted a goal to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions across its business operations to net-zero by 2050 with interim targets of 70% reduction from 2010 levels by 2035 and an 80% reduction by 2040.
Visit lge-ku.com/sustainability to explore the full portfolio of sustainable programs and initiatives.
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