Kentucky’s continued reliance on fossil fuels is more expensive and is not required to maintain the reliability of the grid, according to a new report.
Recently enacted laws restricting coal retirements also threaten to reduce or eliminate potential savings and lock the Commonwealth into a higher-risk and fossil fuel-dependent future.
Byron Gary, program attorney with the Kentucky Resources Council, which commissioned the analysis along with several other advocacy groups, said the state would save more than $2 billion by shifting more toward renewables.
“So not only is it less cost to add renewables,” he said, “even replacing entirely, or nearly entirely, our current fossil infrastructure with renewables, storage and energy conservation measures, we could still save money.”
Kentucky Senate Bill 4, passed in 2023, and last year’s Senate Bill 349 both place strict limits on when coal units can retire and prevent the use of most renewable resources as replacement options. Critics argue the laws raise costs for ratepayers, but supporters say they do the opposite and help maintain local jobs in the industry.
Gary said he hopes lawmakers take a close look at the projections made by independent experts “when they consider either the effects of Senate Bills 4 and 349 or any potential future additional changes to the energy policy of Kentucky.”
The analysis also finds that the Commonwealth could achieve 95% clean energy by 2050 if the state’s utilities get on the right track quickly. If they chose to remain dependent on fossil fuels, Gary said adapting to higher fuel prices at that time would come at an exponentially higher cost, and an exceptionally high cost to consumers.
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Written by Nadia Ramlagan for Kentucky News Connection.
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