Our department is researching how to increase renewable energy generation. As part of our environmental efforts across our generation fleet and throughout our business, we’ve committed with our parent company, PPL, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 70% from 2010 levels by 2040 and 80% by 2050. Our goal is to cost-effectively implement these clean energy sources without hurting reliability for our customers.

However, renewable integration is challenging due to intermittency. Resources are not always available when we need it, such as when the sun is not shining, or the wind is not blowing. In partnership with the University of Kentucky, Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK), we have been studying the intermittency of renewables, including topics in electric power distribution and smart grid technologies.

Researchers from PEIK and the Research and Development department have analyzed the impact of large solar PV penetration on the companies’ generation portfolio. Using historical solar irradiance profiles from multiple sites distributed across the state of Kentucky, the study was able to estimate the maximum amount of intermittent renewable energy sources the service area can sustain with the existing infrastructure. Solar PV generation exceeding 1,000 MW requires significant changes to the portfolio that includes fast-ramping natural gas units and additional transmission infrastructure.

Read more about the intermittency of renewables from our research publications listed below.