Climate change pushes LG&E's parent company to slash coal-burning in Kentucky

The parent of Kentucky's two large utilities – LG&E and KU – has ordered a major reduction in emissions blamed for global warming by eliminating "the bulk" of its coal-burning in the coming years.

Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities have already been shutting down some of its electricity production from coal by retiring decades-old burners. But now, Pennsylvania-based PPL Corp. has set a new goal of cutting its heat-trapping gas emissions 70 percent by 2050, shifting toward cleaner natural gas and renewable energy, PPL said in a news release.

The announcement comes as LG&E and KU Energy are locked in a battle in Frankfort with solar power advocates over the future of solar power in the state.

"As the world considers climate change and as PPL looks to the future, we will continue to take steps to minimize our impact on the environment, transform the way we generate electricity and incorporate new, lower-emitting technology," said William H. Spence, chairman, president and chief executive officer for PPL Corporation, in a news release.

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The announcement reflects the changing market conditions that have found coal to be more expensive than natural gas. Prices for solar and wind have also been falling. PPL said its Kentucky utilities will move toward a mix of renewable energy sources and natural gas, "while meeting obligations to provide least-cost and reliable service to customers," according to the press release. According to its website, the company serves 2.7 million customers in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Tennessee. It also serves 7.8 million customers in the United Kingdom.

The moves could help improve air quality in addition to reduce the state's oversized contribution to global warming. Louisville air quality officials have been banking in part on the retirement of coal-burning power plants to help clean local air. LG&E's Cane Run plant in Louisville has already been converted to cleaner-burning natural gas, for example.

Courier Journal reported in May that Kentucky ranks seventh nationally on a per capita basis among 50 states for energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas.

While PPL touted renewable energy including solar as part of its future, its Kentucky subsidiaries are actually seeking to weaken financial incentives for people who tie into utility grids with rooftop solar panels, which provides only a tiny fraction of Kentucky's electricity mix. House Bill 227 would slash by about 70 percent the value of credits that utilities must provide to future customers who have solar panels for any extra electricity they produce.

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Advocates of rooftop solar contend the utilities are trying to eliminate competition for solar and are ignoring the benefits of having its customers generate some of their own electricity.

"The PPL announcement reflects that renewables will become a larger part of the LG&E and KU portfolio," said attorney Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council. He has suggested lawmakers allow the Kentucky Public Service Commission to fully study the rooftop solar issue before they make any changes to state law that set the terms for how utilities treat their customers with solar panels.

"Study after study has concluded that solar-generating customers are an asset to the utility, not a burden on other customers, and they will be more so as PPL phases out older coal-fired units," he said.

LG&E and KU Energy spokeswoman Chris Whelan said the company supports solar power and that the bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Gooch, R-Providence, "is not meant to stifle it. It's only about the excess generation we have to pay a premium for," she said.

She asserts current policy is unfair to people without solar by giving those with solar panels a break on utility overhead costs.

Since 2010, Spence said PPL has cut its carbon dioxide emissions by nearly half, spinning off its competitive generation business, including nearly 4,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation, retiring approximately 900 megawatts of coal capacity in Kentucky, and replacing much of that retired Kentucky generation with natural gas burners that emit 60 percent less carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour.

PPL wants "lower cost options to reliably meet their customers' energy needs while advancing a cleaner energy future," it said.

PPL noted that its Kentucky subsidiaries have a large solar array at the Brown power plant in Mercer County and have upgraded their Falls of the Ohio River hydroelectric plant in Louisville.

Whelan said the changes will come as the companies' remaining power plants age and need to be replaced.

In November, LG&E and KU Energy announced it was shedding additional older, expensive coal-burning units from its energy mix. Two older, coal-fired units in at the Kentucky Utilities E.W. Brown Generating Station near Harrodsburg in Central Kentucky are to close next year.

A newer, larger Brown unit on the property will continue to burn coal, and the company will also continue to operate its solar farm and hydroelectric plant there, the company said.

LG&E and KU still have three other coal-fired plants: Ghent near Carrollton, Trimble in Trimble County and Mill Creek in Louisville.

"PPL remains committed to looking for additional opportunities to reduce its carbon footprint as we help customers do the same through education and energy efficiency programs and as we work to prepare (its) energy grids for more distributed energy resources," Spence said.

However, Courier Journal reported in December that LG&E and KU Energy determined that its popular residential energy efficiency programs – such as home energy audits and rebates on electricity-sipping appliances – were too costly and are proposed to be eliminated. A voluntary program that allows temporarily shutting off a customer's air conditioner for brief periods is to remain, as are various energy efficiency programs for businesses or industrial plants.

Company officials argued that Kentuckians have saved so much energy that the residential efficiency programs aren't needed anymore.

That proposal is under review before the Kentucky Public Service Commission.

LG&E serves 407,000 electric customers and 324,000 natural gas customers in Louisville and 16 surrounding counties. KU serves 549,000 electric customers in Lexington and 77 Kentucky counties.

James Bruggers: 502-582-4645; jbruggers@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @jbruggers; Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jamesb.