Solar Energy
Transformation and Challenges
Solar in Kentucky
As of March 2020, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), states that Kentucky has enough installed solar installed to power more than 5,000 homes, and there are 60 solar companies operating in the state. Despite this, the state ranks 44th in the nation for solar integration.
But as the cost of solar continues to go down, residential owners are asking for more energy freedom and options for owning their own solar. Utilities are also understanding the advantages of incorporating solar into their product mix.
Advocacy Groups
For many years there have been different citizen advocacy efforts to expand solar energy and other sustainable energy. Groups such as the Kentucky Solar Energy Society have existed for several decades to assist citizens to advocate for more solar energy. For the past decade, there has also been a coalition of advocacy groups called the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance, which was later changed to become the Kentucky Solar Advocacy Network (a coalition of approximately a dozen nonprofits, including KCC). The desire for better organization around solar also inspired the formation of the Kentucky Solar Industries Association.
KCC partners with all of these groups and networks to monitor activity in Frankfort and advocate for pro-solar policies.
Large Solar in KY
In 2015, Fort Campbell installed a 1.9MW solar farm that provides 10% of the electricity used by the base. And long before this, Fort Knox has had a long history of becoming energy self-sufficient, with solar being a large part of that transformation.
In early 2020, Solar Alliance Energy Inc., an energy solutions provider focused on residential, commercial and industrial solar installations, completed construction of a 200 kW solar system at Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, Ky.
Also in early in 2020, LG&E/KU filed with the Public Service Commission for approval for three contracts. The filing consists of two separate renewable power agreements with two of the utilities’ largest industrial customers: Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, which operates the world’s largest Toyota manufacturing facility in Georgetown; and Dow, which has a silicon manufacturing site in Carrollton. The third contract was for a power purchase agreement between LG&E and KU and Rhudes Creek Solar, a wholly owned entity of ibV Energy Partners, for energy to be generated from a new 100-MW solar PV facility to be built in Hardin County.
Merchant power history: Between 2002-2014, all of the “merchant” power projects proposed in Kentucky included a handful of fossil-fuel power plant projects, biomass-based power plant projects or transmission line extensions (only 12 projects total).
Between 2015 - 2019 there were NO merchant projects that were brought before the Electric Generation and Transmission Siting Board, (the entity that reviews merchant projects).
Starting in 2020, Kentucky began to see a wave of solar-based merchant projects with 19 proposals in 2020, 10 proposals in 2021, and 4 proposals to date in 2022 to date covering 21 counties and 22 companies.
Policy and Legislative History
Much of the policy work relating to solar energy has been focused primarily on Net Metering laws for rooftop solar and also siting and land use issues for large-scale solar.
2004 Legislative Session: Net Metering Established. SB 247 (E. Harris) AN ACT relating to metering of electricity. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 278 to require retail electric suppliers to facilitate and accommodate “eligible customer-generators” who generate electricity with photovoltaic cells on their premises; require that the utility credit such customers for the cost of any excess power generated by those customers which is fed back into the electric grid.
AMENDMENTS: SCS – Require electric suppliers to facilitate interconnection with “customer generators” who generate a portion of their own electricity with photovoltaic cells; require suppliers to issue credit to such generators who feed power back to the grid; reduce rated capacity of eligible customer generators from 25 to 15 kilowatts and below; reduce cap on cumulative capacity of all such home systems from 1% to one-tenth of 1% of supplier’s single hour peak load; change responsibility for additional meter cost from supplier to customer; eliminate transferability of excess electricity credits; require verification of safety and compliance when any system is transferred to a new owner; include interconnecting equipment in safety and power quality section.
2014: Pro-Solar advocacy group established. A team of grassroots solar advocates and nonprofits (including representatives from KCC, MACED, Ky. Solar Energy Society, KFTC, Earth Tools Inc.) began to look at legislative options should the federal solar investment tax credits not be renewed. This group explored possibilities of:
Raising the net metering cap to 1 mw.
Leasing of solar panels/third party ownership.
“Solar farm” legislation (several people sharing a single solar site).
This group met for two years with utilities and lawmakers on proactive solar legislation but no consensus was reached,
2017: Solar advocacy group expanded, House changes parties, Anti-Net Metering legislation filed in the Seante. Senator Jared Carpenter introduced SB 214 understood to be an ‘anti-net metering’ industry-drafted bill resembling model legislation from national industry lobbying groups/ALEC. The bill was defeated.
2018 Legislative Session: Anti-Net Metering bill filed in the House. Rep. Gooch filed HB227, a bill based on the presentation during the interim session by the Consumer Energy Alliance earlier in the year, and contained model language from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
2019 Legislative Session: Net Metering Rollback Bill finally passed. SB100 was passed on the last day of the legislative session, grandfathering existing residential solar and some new installations for 25 years, and then utilities would establish new rates for non-grandfathered customers through rate cases.
More on the revised net metering laws.
2020 Legislative Session: Attempt to improve SB100 through “phase-in” legislation HB323 (Duplessis) would have allowed solar facilities beginning service after the PSC approves new net metering rates but before December 31, 2024, to maintain the 1:1 credit ratio net metering rates until December 31, 2029, but was not passed.
2022 Legislative Session: Two bills were filed in an attempt to codify in statute some of the issues that were presently being managed by the Public Service Commission. Those included:
Senate Bill 69 (Hornback)
House Bill 392 (Branscum)
Each of these bills attempted to address, in different ways, guidance for large solar farm siting, setbacks from adjacent property, provisions for decommissioning of projects, and ensuring that adequate bonding was set and was reviewed on a regular basis. Neither bill passed during the 2022 session.
Resources
Related Legislative and Policy Issues
White papers:
Solar Resources:
National Conference of State Legislatures solar policy toolkit
Google’s “Project Sunroof” solar mapping site HERE.
Kentucky Resources Council Model Zoning Ordinance for Solar Siting
Solar Energy Industries Association -Kentucky Solar Policy Profile
Media:
Kentucky Lantern story on Solar Ordinances and Siting, Feb. 2023
Cleantechnica Solar Projects, May 2020
Geronimo Energy (Geronimo) and Big Rivers Electric Corporation (Big Rivers) completed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to get the electricity from the Unbridled Solar Project in Henderson and Webster Counties, Kentucky.
“Anticipated to begin operations at the end of 2023, Unbridled Solar is currently the largest solar project development in the state of Kentucky. …
“The associated economic benefits projected to result from Unbridled Solar total an estimated $9 million throughout the first 20 years of operation, including positive impacts in new tax revenue, construction jobs, new full-time jobs, and charitable funds through the project’s Education Fund. The Unbridled Solar Education Fund alone will provide approximately $640,000 in donations to the local school districts connected to the project above and beyond all tax revenue and local spending benefits.”
Utilities Propose Largest Solar Array, Mostly for Dow and Toyota (Jan. 2020). “The amount of solar energy produced in Kentucky would increase dramatically- Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities said they have asked state regulators to approve contracts to buy power from a 100-megawatt solar facility in Hardin County. The array has not been built but would be ready to use by 2022 under the deal, according to an application filed with the state Public Service Commission.”
Solar Farm Project Websites
Solar Advocacy Media Files
During KCC’s legislative advocacy work in 2018 and 2019, we worked alongside a coalition of solar advocates to produce media to help the public and legislators to better understand the basics of how solar works using net metering laws, and the legislative challenges related to these issues.
