We are now accepting enrollments for the sixth sections of the array. The construction process will begin after it is 100% subscribed. Then we will accept enrollments for the following section up to eight sections.
Section #5 went live in July 2022.
Construction for both sections three and four are complete at the Solar Share Facility in Simpsonville, making them fully operational. Thanks to subscribers, development of the Solar Share site, which will consist of a total of eight 500-kilowatt (2000 Shares) sections, is now 50% complete.
More than 1,300 LG&E and KU residential customers, along with several business customers including Louisville-area non-profit Center for Women and Families, Louisville-based printing and fulfillment services company V.G. Reed & Sons, and the Campbellsville division of global industrial services company Ingersoll Rand, subscribed to sections three and four.
Construction of the second 500-kilowatt (2000 Shares) section in Simpsonville is complete. With the addition of the new 1,300 panel array, customers participating in the program are now helping produce a total of one megawatt of local solar energy here in the Bluegrass state ‒ with more room to grow. Kentucky Habitat for Humanity and Centre College were among the customers who subscribed to the second section.
Construction of the first 500-kilowatt (2000 Shares) section of LG&E and KU’s Solar Share Program began in early 2019 thanks to founding partner Ford Motor Company and other participating business and residential customers. The nearly 1,400 panel array became fully operational and began serving up solar energy for the Bluegrass in late July 2019.
The site, along Interstate 64 in the KU service territory near LG&E, is large enough to accommodate a four-megawatt solar field. The Solar Share facility will be built in eight 500-kilowatt sections, and each section represents 2,000 shares. The construction process will begin for each 500-kilowatt section after it is 100 percent subscribed.
Below is an aerial photo of the first array.
The four-board fence and new landscape buffers on the north and west side of the property along Conner Station Road blend with the surrounding area.
In addition to installing fencing and landscape buffers around the outside of the facility to blend it with the surrounding area, LG&E and KU are planning to use property within the solar site to establish a pollinator habitat, rich with native plants that create an environment that attracts and supports pollinators such as native bees, honey bees and monarch butterflies, which have experienced population declines over the last decade. Other benefits of pollinator habitats include beautifying the landscape, supporting grassland birds, reducing water runoff and soil erosion, reduced maintenance costs and educational opportunities.