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Released November 30, 2017 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Coal Country soon will be losing two more coal-fired power generating units. Kentucky Utilities (Lexington, Kentucky), a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) (Allentown, Pennsylvania), in mid-November announced plans to close units 1 and 2 of the E.W. Brown Power Station in February 2019. The two units, each more than 50 years old, have combined generating capacity of about 272 megawatts (MW). Unit 3 at the Brown station, with 409 MW of generating capacity, will continue operating, the utility said.
The closure of those units at the Brown station brings to eight the number of coal-fired generating units retired by KU and its sister utility, Louisville Gas & Electric (Louisville, Kentucky), in less than five years. Other units closed include the Tyrone Power Station (2013), Cane Run Power Station units 4, 5 and 6 (2015) and Green River Power Station units 3 and 4 (2015).
In announcing the plan to close the two Brown units, Kentucky Utilities said the combination of stricter environmental regulations and customers' embrace of energy-efficiency programs, specifically light-emitting diode (LED) lighting programs, meant closing the units was the lowest-cost option for the utility and its customers. Kentucky Utilities specifically mentioned the cost of complying with the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule. Closing the two Brown units will save the utility and its customers from having to expand an existing coal-ash landfill to store combustion residuals from those two units.
"We are continually looking for opportunities to reduce costs for customers while maintaining a reliable supply of energy," said Paul Thompson, LG&E and KU president and chief operating officer. "Retiring two of our oldest and most expensive coal-fired generating units, while also avoiding more costly environmental capital expenditures for compliance, benefits our customers."
LED lighting and other energy efficiency measures taken by LG&E and KU Energy customers have saved some 500 megawatts of electricity, enough to avoid having to construct a new power plant, Chris Whelan, vice president of communications for the company, told The Louisville Courier Journal. The cost of energy-efficient LED lighting, in particular, has made a big difference in Kentucky and across the nation, she said.
In 2011, Whelan said, Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas & Electric generated 98% of its electricity from coal, 1% from natural gas and 1% from renewable sources. Now the mix is now approximately 80% coal, 19% natural gas and 1% renewables.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
The closure of those units at the Brown station brings to eight the number of coal-fired generating units retired by KU and its sister utility, Louisville Gas & Electric (Louisville, Kentucky), in less than five years. Other units closed include the Tyrone Power Station (2013), Cane Run Power Station units 4, 5 and 6 (2015) and Green River Power Station units 3 and 4 (2015).
In announcing the plan to close the two Brown units, Kentucky Utilities said the combination of stricter environmental regulations and customers' embrace of energy-efficiency programs, specifically light-emitting diode (LED) lighting programs, meant closing the units was the lowest-cost option for the utility and its customers. Kentucky Utilities specifically mentioned the cost of complying with the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule. Closing the two Brown units will save the utility and its customers from having to expand an existing coal-ash landfill to store combustion residuals from those two units.
"We are continually looking for opportunities to reduce costs for customers while maintaining a reliable supply of energy," said Paul Thompson, LG&E and KU president and chief operating officer. "Retiring two of our oldest and most expensive coal-fired generating units, while also avoiding more costly environmental capital expenditures for compliance, benefits our customers."
LED lighting and other energy efficiency measures taken by LG&E and KU Energy customers have saved some 500 megawatts of electricity, enough to avoid having to construct a new power plant, Chris Whelan, vice president of communications for the company, told The Louisville Courier Journal. The cost of energy-efficient LED lighting, in particular, has made a big difference in Kentucky and across the nation, she said.
In 2011, Whelan said, Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas & Electric generated 98% of its electricity from coal, 1% from natural gas and 1% from renewable sources. Now the mix is now approximately 80% coal, 19% natural gas and 1% renewables.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
