Utilities welcome new flock of wooly friends to their Solar Share facility in Simpsonville, Kentucky
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — What began as an innovative idea at a Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company generating station in Mercer County, Kentucky is picking up momentum as it expands into Shelby County. After first adding a flock of sheep to their E.W. Brown Generating Station, the utilities are now incorporating a second flock of sheep, this time at their Solar Share facility in Simpsonville.
"Our flock at E.W. Brown has successfully integrated with our native landscape and, as planned, are serving their purpose, which includes sustainably managing vegetation around the solar panels as well as the cost of upkeep,” said Aron Patrick, Director of Research and Development at LG&E and KU and the PPL family of utilities. “We’ve been so pleased with how it’s gone that we decided to explore the same type of incorporation at our Solar Share facility.”
LG&E and KU added about 50 sheep to seven-and-a-half acres of the 35-acre Solar Share site in late spring. The new flock consists of 49 ewes, or female sheep, to one male ram. While the site has existing pollinator habitats, which LG&E and KU have worked to incorporate around their facilities, the sheep will graze on grass and hay native to the area and already on the grounds of the Solar Share site. The flock will be on site throughout the summer months and cared for by a nearby farm, also in Shelby County. The sheeps’ return each summer will be evaluated based on anticipated construction activity as the facility expands.
Solar Share facility growth
Not only is LG&E and KU’s Solar Share facility welcoming the sheep, but the program behind the facility continues to welcome new subscribers. Just last summer, the utilities celebrated the completion of section five of the facility and, currently, subscriptions to section six are at 30 percent and rising. Once completed, the solar facility will have a total of eight 500-kilowatt sections, capable of producing a total of 4 megawatts. LG&E and KU will construct the remaining sections planned for the site once each is fully subscribed.
The subscription-based Solar Share program is a cost-effective option available to LG&E and KU’s residential, business and industrial customers who want to support solar energy for as little as 20 cents per day. By participating in the program, customers get the benefits from solar energy without having to pay the added up-front and long-term expenses that come when installing and maintaining a private solar system.
Ewe interested in learning more?
If you’re interested in all sheep, all the time, check out LG&E and KU’s “EweTube channel,” featuring the utilities’ flock at E.W. Brown Generating Station.
For those interested in subscribing to the utilities’ Solar Share program or viewing a live dashboard showing how much energy the site is generating, visit lge-ku.com/solar-share.
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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 334,000 natural gas and 433,000 electric customers in Louisville and 16 surrounding counties. KU serves 569,000 customers in 77 Kentucky counties and five counties in Virginia. More information is available at www.lge-ku.com and www.pplweb.com.
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