Energy
After a series of winter storms, regulators approve new standards for power plants
Two years after Winter Storm Uri, which caused a massive power failure in Texas that caused more than 200 deaths, and just two months after another storm, Elliott, forced blackouts in parts of the South, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved new extreme cold reliability standards for power plants. However, the vote last week […]
Federal-state task force grapples with grid protection
A federal task force wrestled with the costs and benefits of better shielding the nation’s tens of thousands of electric substations from a growing number of attacks, like a neo-Nazi plot the FBI says it foiled earlier this month in Maryland, another that knocked out power to thousands in North Carolina in December and more […]
Across the country, a big backlash to new renewables is mounting?
BUCYRUS, Ohio — In four terms as a county elected official in northern Ohio, it was the most contentious issue Doug Weisenauer had ever seen. The state legislature had newly empowered county governments to drastically restrict wind and solar power development, a process formerly overseen by the Ohio Power Siting Board, and the meetings of […]
Kentucky counties, cities increasingly adopting ordinances to regulate solar energy projects
A new interactive map shows Kentucky counties and cities that have in recent years adopted ordinances to regulate solar projects amid rising interest by solar developers in establishing installations throughout the state. The online map, created by the Kentucky Office of Energy Policy, highlights county and city governments that have created ordinances to provide a […]
How did renewables fare during Winter Storm Elliott? Better than natural gas and coal.
A day after Christmas, as parts of the country were still digging out from Winter Storm Elliott, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, undeterred by the absence of much concrete data, already knew where to cast the blame for rolling blackouts implemented in parts of the South to keep the grid from collapsing.? “While there […]
Beshear, oil and gas leaders pitch using fossil fuels to make hydrogen fuel in Kentucky
LOUISVILLE — Gov. Andy Beshear joined the lobbying organization for?Kentucky’s oil and gas industries Wednesday to pitch a new energy future for the commonwealth: creating hydrogen fuel?for generating electricity, transportation and more?through the use of natural gas. The Democratic governor speaking before the inaugural Kentucky Hydrogen Summit in downtown Louisville, organized by the Kentucky Oil […]
Kentucky ranks 35th overall in national comparison of electric utility performance
A nationwide comparison of electric utility performance by an Illinois consumer advocacy group found that customers in states that are heavily reliant on fuel oil and natural gas, as in the Northeast and South, tend to pay more than those with larger amounts of carbon-free generation, among other findings.? Kentucky, largely reliant on coal for […]
Some Kentuckians push their power supplier to prioritize greener energy over coal
Bill Conn was thinking of his two children when he wrote an email in December to the Kentucky Public Service Commission, the state agency that regulates more than 1,000 utilities. The Whitley County teacher counts Eastern Kentucky coal miners among his ancestors, a history that’s near and dear to his heart. As recently as 1988, […]
As another winter storm strains the electric grid, it’s time to fix transmission, experts say
The deadly winter storm, christened Elliott by the Weather Channel, that tore through much of the United States over the Christmas weekend placed a huge strain on the American electric grid, pushing it past the breaking point in some places. Frigid temperatures, in some places setting records, drove a surge in electric demand while […]
In his UK lab, senior Lucas Bertucci plots a green revolution, one recycled metal scrap at a time
LEXINGTON — As the global energy and climate crises balloon, one remedy may lie in something as small as a beaker — the place where Lucas Bertucci got his start in sustainability research. The chemical engineering student at the University of Kentucky is the first winner of the Lee T. Todd, Jr. Student Innovation Scholarship, […]
Criticism greets LG&E/KU plan to replace coal-fired power plants with natural gas, solar
Kentucky’s largest utility, providing power to more than 1.3 million customers, is proposing to build two natural gas plants along with new solar installations to help make up for an energy supply shortfall created by the retirement of coal-fired power plants. It’s a plan that advocates of both coal and renewable energy in Kentucky strongly […]
Scientists announce a fusion breakthrough with big implications for clean energy
Scientists at a U.S. national laboratory announced Tuesday that they achieved fusion ignition, a breakthrough decades in the making that could have major implications for clean energy. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco said that on Dec. 5, for the first time anywhere in the world, they managed to produce more […]