Jan. 20—Kentucky's utility regulator has given a green light to plans by the state's largest utility to retire some of its coal-fired generation, build a natural gas-fired plant in Jefferson County and add renewable energy to its power generation portfolio.
Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities (LG&E and KU) had asked the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) at the beginning of last year for permission to retire some of its coal-fired power plant units. The utility argued the aging units would be uneconomical to maintain alongside the costs of installing technology to meet proposed federal emissions regulations.
To replace the power capacity from the proposed coal-fired power retirements, LG&E and KU was also seeking approval to invest billions of dollars in building two natural-gas fired power plants, while also coupling those plants with a newly built solar installation in Mercer County and entering into agreements to purchase solar power from other installations.
In its 186-page order, LG&E and KU ultimately received only some of what it wanted.
The PSC allowed for two coal-fired power generation units at the utility's Mill Creek Generating Station in Jefferson County to be retired but denied retirement requests for two other coal-fired units at other power plants.
The commission stated in its order that because LG&E and KU could delay upgrades to meet future environmental regulations at some coal-fired units slated for retirement — specifically units at its E.W. Brown Generating Station in Mercer County and its Ghent Generating Station Carroll County — it was unnecessary to build one of the utility's two proposed new natural gas plants as a replacement for those retirements.
The PSC subsequently denied proposed retirements of coal-fired units at the E.W. Brown and Ghent plants and denied permission to build one of two proposed natural gas plants, which would have been in Mercer County.
LG&E and KU president John Crockett in a statement said the utility was "pleased" that the commission approved many parts of their proposed energy generation and energy efficiency plans. But he said he was concerned that the "deferral" of building one of two proposed natural gas plants could increase costs to customers.
LG&E and KU plans to build the natural gas-fired plant that the PSC did approve, which has an approximate capacity of 640 megawatts, at its Mill Creek Generating Station in Jefferson County.
"We put forth the least-cost plan to continue serving our customers in a safe and reliable manner," Crockett said in his statement.