KY Dead Last In Renewables, Faces High Energy Costs, But Grandpa Coal Minin' God Something Something

[hatrack]

Andy McDonald recalls a decade-old Kentucky legislative hearing on an energy diversification bill with the same sense of frustration that he felt back then, when he testified before a panel of lawmakers who were mostly coal industry loyalists. McDonald, a clean energy advocate and energy policy consultant, was armed with a study by Synapse Energy Economics of Boston that made an economic case for requiring utilities to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Lawmakers opted to maintain the status quo.

“After testifying about this, the legislature went on a rant about how high energy bills were and why we can’t do anything about that,” said McDonald, founder and director of Apogee, a firm in Frankfort, Kentucky, that provides technical assistance, education and policy research toward advancing a renewable energy transition. “I was banging my head on the table, saying we just told you what you can do about that.”

A decade later, the latest figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that Kentucky is dead last among states for wind and solar production in the United States. And while state officials note an uptick in the last couple of years in proposed utility-scale solar power projects, Kentucky experienced what could be described as a lost decade of renewable energy investment, while wind and solar power have soared in other states—including some other coal states.



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The problem persists. One example, he said, is the recent decision by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, not to veto a bill passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly intended to prevent the closing of half-century-old and uneconomical coal-fired power plants. On March 16, before the House voted to pass SB4, Rep. Richard White, a Republican from eastern Kentucky, argued for coal as a matter of religious faith. “When God created this Earth, he provided us with natural resources … and coal is one of them,” White said, adding that God intended coal for people “to make a living, to survive in this world.” The bill is part of a pattern in Kentucky of sticking with coal despite overwhelming evidence of the fuel’s environmental hazards and high financial costs. It is an allegiance so strong that even the state’s utilities are imploring lawmakers to take a different course.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31032023/kentucky-coal-wind-solar/

[Finishline42]

1. Unfair criticism

Article said...

One example, he said, is the recent decision by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, not to veto a bill passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly intended to prevent the closing of half-century-old and uneconomical coal-fired power plants.

Repugs have a super majority in both houses so his veto would have been over-ridden. Probably a political move as Beshear is up for re-election this fall.

KY are LG&E and KY Utilities (both owned by PPL) have some Hydro and Solar. From their site...

Hydroelectric
We have operated our two hydroelectric facilities, Ohio Falls and Dix Dam, since the 1920s.

The two facilities can produce more than 100 megawatts when water is flowing; production at Ohio Falls increased by another 27 percent when renovations to the facility were completed in January 2019.

Ohio Falls is uniquely located near the Falls of the Ohio Natural Wildlife Conservation Area on the Ohio River. The Army Corps of Engineers operates the Falls’ dam and spill to help control and monitor river navigation, making energy production dependent upon river activity.

Our Dix Dam plant, once hailed as the world’s largest stone-filled dam, not only produces renewable energy, but also helps regulate water levels of Lake Herrington.

Solar
We also host Kentucky’s largest utility-scale solar photovoltaic facility. The solar facility, which features more than 45,000 solar panels occupies approximately 50 acres at the company's E.W. Brown Generating Station in Mercer County.

The panels are positioned to optimize the available sunlight for producing energy. The site is projected to produce its full potential, up to 10 megawatts of energy, approximately 400 hours annually (4.5 percent of the year). Considering all available hours of sunlight, the panels are projected to produce 19,000 megawatt hours of energy, enough to provide energy to 1,500 homes based on a usage of 1,000 kilowatt hours per month.

[Meadowoak]

2. [phone]

[Bayard]

3. Thank you

Coal related jobs in Appalachia/far eastern KY have been disappearing for awhile now, but its proponents are still very loud.