Electricity in Kentucky is about to get a lot more planet-friendly, and it could make state residents' energy bills a lot cheaper in the process.
The state's largest utility company, Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, has gotten permission from state regulators to increase its solar and battery storage capacity by an incredible 900%.
At the same time, LG&E/KU has applied to shut down seven dirty-energy-generated power plants and has gotten approval to retire five of them — two coal-fired plants and three gas-powered units.
The utility company will also be building two new gas-powered units, but even so, all together this is a net positive for the state of Kentucky and the planet, as solar panels can passively generate clean energy from a completely renewable resource. Gas and coal, meanwhile, are dirty-energy fuels that pollute our air quality, leading to serious health problems such as asthma and other respiratory illnesses, and massively contribute to the overheating of our planet.
While Kentucky has, until now, been one of the slowest states to adopt solar energy, ranked 43rd among all U.S. states for solar capacity by the Solar Energy Industries Association, the decision by LG&E/KU to nine-fold increase its solar capacity while also shuttering dirty-energy plants constitutes a gigantic shift. Kentucky should see itself climbing those rankings, while its air quality improves and residents pay smaller energy bills, in no time. That's a big win for everybody except the dirty-energy companies.
"That's the kind of good news I come here for. So happy to see there's some good people out there," wrote one Electrek commenter.
"Anecdotally, the cheapest energy providers in my area of PA are all powered predominantly — if not exclusively — by renewables. Hopefully, as Kentuckians(?) get access to cheaper renewable energy, there will be an even bigger push to get off coal and gas," wrote another.
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