Utilities seeking to replace energy produced by older, coal-fired units
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company today issued a request for proposals for generation to serve the utilities’ more than 1.3 million customers across Kentucky and a small portion of Virginia. The request, which is exploring the potential for the utilities to add capacity and associated energy, is open to a variety of generation sources as the utilities, along with parent company PPL, eye a clean energy future and look to build on their already diverse generation mix – comprised of coal, natural gas, hydro and steadily increasing solar.
“Pending EPA regulations combined with some of our coal-fired generating units reaching the end of their useful lives necessitates that we seek newer and cleaner sources of energy to provide safe, reliable service to customers in the future,” said LG&E and KU Vice President of Energy Supply and Analysis David Sinclair. “Our customers are increasingly concerned about the impacts of climate change, so it is important that we transition our generation fleet to meet their future energy needs with cleaner, lower carbon dioxide-emitting technology.”
The utilities’ RFP is seeking proposals for capacity and energy available no earlier than 2025. The generation proposals must be reliable, feasible, and, as required by the Kentucky Public Service Commission, represent the least-cost means of supplying customers with capacity and energy. According to details outlined in the request, proposals must have at least 100 megawatts of nameplate capacity. Renewables, battery storage and combinations of the two are among the variety of options open for consideration.
Together with parent company PPL, LG&E and KU have committed to achieving net zero by 2050 and accelerated interim emission reduction targets to 70% from 2010 levels by 2035 and 80% by 2040.
Visit lge-ku.com/rfp to access the request. All proposals are due by Aug. 17. The utilities anticipate making a decision in fall 2022 and seeking regulatory approval, if necessary, in late 2022 or early 2023.
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Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, part of the PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) family of companies, are regulated utilities that serve more than 1.3 million customers and have consistently ranked among the best companies for customer service in the United States. LG&E serves 333,000 natural gas and 429,000 electric customers in Louisville and 16 surrounding counties. KU serves 566,000 customers in 77 Kentucky counties and five counties in Virginia. More information is available at www.lge-ku.com and www.pplweb.com.
