LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — For the next few weeks, you can make your voice heard as LG&E and Kentucky Utilities look for approval to retire some coal-fired and natural gas units. In Lexington Monday evening, several people showed up to give their input.
"We understand that at any proceeding of this type, there are strong feelings and opinions," said a moderator from the Public Service Commission as they began the meeting.
Over the course of a couple of hours, people voiced their opinions about LG&E-KU plan.
According to the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC), the utility service plans to retire four coal-fired units and three natural gas units. They would replace them with two natural gas facilities, two solar facilities, a battery storage facility, and four solar power purchase agreements.
The plan would cost $2.09 billion and would be finished 2026 and 2028. The PSC would have to approve the plan for it to move forward. They have planned several public comment sessions across the state.
"I applaud KU for trying to retire these coal and natural gas plants, but we need to do more," one person said at the microphone, urging the utility to put more emphasis on renewables.
"LGE-KU plan to build two new huge gas plants and lock us into paying for 40 more years of natural gas," said Cara Cooper.
LG&E-KU Director of Media Relations Natasha Collins said replacing all the units with renewable energy would double the cost.
"This is generation that we know will serve our customers reliably and for the lowest reasonable cost, which we're charged with doing as a utility that's regulated by the commission," she said.
The vast majority of people in the crowd shared a similar opinion to Cooper's, that the utility needs to look to options like solar as much as possible to avoid contributing to climate change.
A man who lives near a proposed solar site said he believes the company does a good job of using air scrubbers to minimize pollution and he believes an all-renewable system would be less reliable.
"What I'd like to see the PSC do is do a hard look at what happens when these solar fields go dark for storm damage, or what have you, what's the time frame for getting these things back online," he said.
There will be several more public information sessions across the state before the PSC holds a hearing on the proposal August 22.
