Your Energy Matters

Here's a preview of a recent article from the newspaper Canada Free Press.

Germany is phasing out its nuclear plants in favor of wind and solar energy backed-up by coal power. The government’s transition to these intermittent green energy technologies is causing havoc with its electric grid and that of its neighbors—countries that are now building switches to turn off their connection with Germany at their borders.

The intermittent power is causing destabilization of the electric grids causing potential blackouts, weakening voltage and causing damage to industrial equipment.

The instability of the electric grid is just one of many issues that the German government is facing regarding its move to intermittent renewable technologies.

Residential electricity prices in Germany are some of the highest in Europe and are increasing dramatically (currently Germans pay 34 cents a kilowatt hour compared to an average of 12 cents in the United States). Note: LG&E and KU customers pay a little less than 9 cents a kilowatt hour.  

This year German electricity rates are about to increase by over 10 percent due mainly to a surcharge for using more renewable energy and a further 30 to 50 percent price increase is expected in the next ten years. These changes in the electricity generation market have caused about 800,000 German households to no longer be able to afford their energy bills.

For some, switching to renewable energy sources seems easy...a no-brainer. We addressed the possibility of large-scale wind energy in Kentucky in a previous blog entry.

As we said in that post, we must meet our customers’ energy needs 24/7, and that requires us to respond real-time to any changes in demand.

Within the U.S., wind energy can play a role in meeting our energy needs, but its low availability, particularly on hot summer days, and the relatively high cost of wind turbines means it’s not a good source for reliable, low-cost generation that we are obligated to supply in Kentucky.

We'll follow Germany's struggles and provide updates to our readers, as Germany is looked at by some as a model for what could be done here in the states.

Until next time, keep using energy wisely.  

If you’ve ever driven west from Kentucky, you know the drive can be pretty flat at times. With family in Iowa, I make the drive about once a year. A common joke from my in-laws is that it’s so flat you can watch your dog run away for three days.

Driving through the Midwest and Great Plains, you’ll encounter stretches of road where wind turbines dot the country-side. And there’s a good reason for it: the geography is such that winds in portions of these areas are much stronger than average.

That means the “fuel” for these wind turbines is available more often and in steadier supply than in places like Kentucky, which Mother Nature ranked low on the wind potential scale.

Having a secure and reliable supply of fuel is essential for utility companies like ours, which must generate and deliver energy as their customers demand it.

And in Kentucky, we’re mandated to serve our customers at the lowest reasonable cost. A poor availability of steady and strong winds in our state means that relying on wind to create energy on a larger size and scale – particularly on the hottest days of summer and coldest days of winter – would be an expensive endeavor, and one that would require a lot of land.

Largest wind farm in Kansas begins operation

Check out this story from the Kansas City Star about a wind farm in the state that began commercial operation this year. In order to generate 438 megawatts, more than 274 wind turbines were built on a 66,000-acre plot of land.

Since we’re often asked about the possibility of wind power to meet customers’ energy demands in Kentucky, I did a little more research on the amount of land it would take in order to match the stated generation output of the wind farm in Kansas.

Because the wind doesn’t always blow in our area (wind typically generates only about 10 percent of its rated capacity at the time of summer peak), we would need 10 times the scale of Kansas’ latest wind farm to actually get 438 megawatts during times of peak energy use.

Not all wind is created equal

How large is 66,000 acres (the size of Kansas’ latest wind farm)? More than 103 square miles.

To put this in perspective, Louisville, Ky., is nearly 400 square miles and Lexington, Ky., is about 285 square miles.

Knowing that 10 times the scale of the 438-megawatt wind farm in Kansas would need to be built in Kentucky to match the generation output, we would need at least 1,030 square miles of land (659,200 acres) to complete a similar project here in the Bluegrass state.

That’s more than 2.5 times the size of Louisville and more than 3.5 times the size of Lexington.

Truth in Advertising

Wind farms seldom produce energy equal to what is promised, and even the turbines in windier places like Kansas and the Great Plains states regularly produce only a fraction of their rated capacity.

If only 10 percent of your investment is available when it’s needed most (think peak energy demand days in the summer or winter), a utility company either has to have 10 times the rated capacity or supplement the short-fall with more reliable back-up generation which adds to the cost.

While wind turbines will continue to become more efficient, technological advancements can’t capture wind that doesn’t blow.

Think of it another way: if your car is rated to provide 30 miles per gallon but can only do so on rare occasions and usually only delivers 3 miles per gallon, you’d have some real problems.

At LG&E and KU, we must meet our customers’ energy needs 24/7, and that requires us to respond real-time to any changes in demand.

Wind energy can play a role in meeting the nation’s energy needs, but its low availability, particularly on hot summer days, and the relatively high cost of wind turbines means it’s not a good source for reliable, low-cost generation that we are obligated to supply in Kentucky.

We’ll explore more environmental topics in future blog entries. If there’s anything you’d like us to discuss, leave us a comment and we’ll add it to the list.

Until next time, keep using energy wisely.

There have been a lot of headlines lately about our environmental investments, including the early closure of our coal-fired Cane Run Station and how we plan to replace it with a new natural gas-fired power plant to comply with more stringent environmental regulations.

We work hard to regularly communicate the how’s and why’s behind our operations and plans for the future, but we understand that our industry is complex, and often the full story isn’t told.

Your questions and feedback are important to us, and providing you with straight answers and engaging in a two-way dialogue are part of why we launched this blog more than two years ago.

Let’s take a look at some of your more recent questions below, and break it down piece-by-piece. Check back often for more “From the Inbox” Q&As.

With environmental regulations getting stricter, why do you still burn coal?

We’re mandated by the Kentucky Public Service Commission to provide customers with least-cost energy and coal-fired generation has consistently met that requirement. In addition, Kentucky has some of the lowest energy costs in the nation, due in large part to its close proximity to vast coal reserves. Lower energy costs are important for economic development and, ultimately, jobs in the Commonwealth.

Even after our latest construction program is completed in 2015 to comply with more stringent regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency, coal-fired power will still make up a good majority of our company’s fuel mix.

As part of our compliance plan, we are retiring about 800 megawatts of coal-fired generation, and replacing it with a new natural gas power plant. In many cases, however, it was more cost-effective to retrofit or add pollution controls to our existing coal-fired units to further reduce emissions.

It’s also important to note that by 2016 – when more stringent EPA regulations take effect – we will have reduced emission rates for sulfur dioxide by 88 percent and nitrogen oxide emission rates by 83 percent since 1995. Over this same period of time, however, it’s critical to note that our customers have increased their use of electricity by more than 25 percent.

Why don’t you switch to renewables, which have zero fuel costs?

Every fuel has its advantages and challenges when you look at the complete picture. For instance, Mother Nature may provide wind and sun, but those “fuels” are not always available at the same time that our customers demand energy.

So, if on a hot summer day the wind isn’t blowing, or on a cold winter day and the sun isn’t shining, we’d need substantial back-up power to reliably meet peak energy demand and keep your lights on.

And, if we have to import renewable power from another state, it only adds to the cost. We take all of that into account when evaluating options for new generation.

Why don’t you invest more in energy efficiency and green energy?

We do. Energy efficiency is important to us and we offer a number of programs and services in which our customers can enroll to save energy and money.

The programs are part of our continued efforts to help customers use energy more wisely, offset annual customer energy demand growth that leads to additional generation, and help offset the potential customer rate impacts of federal environmental regulations. If customers take full advantage of our energy efficiency programs, our portfolio of residential and commercial programs has the ability to offset 500 megawatts of generation by 2018.

And, you can join our Green Energy Program to help expand the generation capacity of renewable power that serves the Kentucky electric grid. For just $5 per month, we can purchase approximately 1,800 kilowatt hours of Renewable Energy Certificates from renewable energy sources in Kentucky and adjacent states. Your voluntary investment helps offset the higher cost of renewable energy in our area.

You can find more information on all of our energy efficiency programs and tips by visiting www.lge-ku.com/savingenergy.

Until next time, keep using energy wisely.