December 15, 2022

From: The Kentucky Coal Association

            880 Corporate Drive

            Lexington, KY 40503

            Ph. (859) 233-4743

For Immediate Release:

KCA: Planned LG&E Closure of EW Brown and Mill Creek Power Puts Stability of Kentucky’s Grid at Risk

LEXINGTON, KY (December 15, 2022) – Earlier today, LG&E and Kentucky Utilities announced plans to close their E.W. Brown and Mill Creek coal-fired power plants by 2028 -- a move the Kentucky Coal Association says endangers the stability of the state’s grid.

“Taken together, these two plants provide almost 2000 MW of power, that is enough to power almost 2 million homes,” said Tucker Davis, president of the KCA. “To put that in perspective, there are only slightly more than 2 million homes in the entire state. In effect, it is the equivalent of turning the lights out in every home in Kentucky.”

“LG&E says they are going to replace this capacity with two 620 MW gas-fired units and potentially a solar farm and battery storage,” Davis continued. “Have we not learned anything from the experience of Texas last winter and Europe today? Coal is reliable, plentiful, can be stockpiled for later use, and it is cheap. Gas is subject to huge spikes in price, and solar simply can’t provide scalable, reliable energy. We must take the necessary steps to protect our state’s electric power grid to spare our people the skyrocketing electric bills, brownouts and blackouts seen in Texas and Europe.”

For more information contact Tucker Davis at the Kentucky Coal Association at 859.233.4743 or via email at [email protected].  

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