‘LG&E/KU has had the opportunity to build solar over … and over again. Every single time, it comes up with an excuse.’ The reasons they oppose renewables are a mystery. But there are clues.
| Opinion Contributor
Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing to begin production in Shelby County
A $700 million project called Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing was announced Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, at the Governor’s Mansion.
- Reliance on fossil fuels over cheaper renewables is a key driver of potential energy cost hikes.
- Political policies and utility company decisions in Kentucky are hindering the adoption of renewable energy.
- Innovations like large-scale batteries, virtual power plants and tech industry investments in renewables offer solutions to manage costs.
Your electric bill could rise as much as $800 a year in the next 10 years.
It doesn’t have to.
These increases are being blamed on the construction of new data centers that will devour massive amounts of energy for the artificial intelligence boom.
Much of the blame lies elsewhere.
The bigger culprits are the Trump administration, the Kentucky legislature and Kentucky’s big utility, LG&E/KU.
Those three are pursuing strategies that are crushing the innovation that could help avoid such huge cost hikes. They say that fossil fuels like coal and natural gas are the only way to assure reliable electricity.
But that is increasingly untrue because building new renewable energy now costs less than fossil fuels. And because battery technology can make solar and wind power available 24-7.
The real reasons they oppose renewables are a bit of a mystery. But there are clues.
Now is the time for renewable energy, but LG&E is dragging their feet
One is polarized politics. President Trump has promised to revitalize the coal and gas industries with his energy policy of “drill, baby, drill.”
The Kentucky legislature clings to a coal-mining culture that has been in a decline since Mitch McConnell first got elected to the Senate in 1985. They blame environmentalists for policies they say have hurt mining communities.
It’s true those communities helped build America. But we’ve learned a lot about coal’s downsides, including global warming. We see weather extremes, wildfires and the heartbreaking flooding in eastern Kentucky. The last ten years have been the hottest on record.
So you’d think this would be a time for a national energy dialogue.
Instead, the Kentucky legislature has made it harder to close uneconomical coal plants. The U.S. is dismantling scores of clean energy projects across the country.
Limiting renewables cuts off one of the quickest solutions to rising demand — wind and solar take much less time to build than coal or natural gas. Rate increases are expected to especially hurt states like Kentucky, which is heavily powered by more expensive fossil fuels. One study projects that the average electricity bill in Kentucky will rise $860 a year by 2035.
Which makes LG&E/KU’s foot-dragging on renewable energy especially puzzling.
Renewable energy would be more cost effective for Kentuckians
LG&E/KU could be a good neighbor and support the Louisville Metro Council’s 2020 clean energy resolution calling for the area to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2040. A huge step toward that goal would be to build a field of solar panels.
Instead, it proposes more fossil fuel generation.
Could renewable energy limit rate hikes? LG&E/KU isn’t saying. At a recent hearing of the Kentucky Public Service Commission, one environmental activist referred to that secrecy as a “black box.” She said:
“LG&E/KU has had the opportunity, to build solar over, and over, and over again … Every single time, it comes up with an excuse. And they always point us toward … this black box called lowest-cost energy. I would love to have someone explain … how it is that over the lifespan of 40 years a gas plant that you put in today is less expensive — and you pay for gas as (the price of) that gas is volatile over time — how that plant is less expensive than a solar field that has no cost for fuel over that 40 years.”
There are better ways to manage costs. Here are three:
Batteries gone wild
Utility-scale battery projects are being used to keep costs low through clever accounting — buying and storing electricity when prices are down, then using it during peak price times. And all those electric cars getting charged up in people’s garages can be tapped to help the electric grid get through power shortages. That network even has a name — the virtual power plant market.
Power arrangers
The tech industry knows it needs a lot more electricity and is taking steps to help. Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta are making massive investments in renewable energy. One game-changing idea getting serious attention is this: What if a data center could get by without a 99.999% guarantee of reliable power? Many industries already pay lower rates for interruptible power.
Forward to the future
New sources of electricity are blooming. Kentucky has a small but worthwhile potential for developing hydro power. Getting geothermal power from underground is already being used in an innovative program at the Louisville airport. Offshore wind farms promise massive amounts of new, highly reliable electricity.
Higher electricity costs are coming, but we can help limit them
We do need to brace for much higher electricity costs. But you can help limit those increases. Tell LG&E to take a kinder view of renewable energy. Tell your Metro Council representative you want to see its clean energy resolution implemented. Tell elected officials you care about the environment, and your electric bills.
Power doesn’t just have to come from a utility. It can also come from the people.
Paul Wesslund is a Louisville author who writes on energy issues and for 20 years was editor of Kentucky Living magazine. He wrote the book Small Business, Big Heart—How One Family Redefined the Bottom Line, and blogs on how decency succeeds in business and in life at paulwesslund.com.
