Friday 21 April 2017

Kentucky coal investing in solar



Credit: Electrek

Kentucky is a US state famed, perhaps most of all, for its bluegrass (the pasture plant & the music), & for its coal mines. It’s making progress towards note for its solar energy output too – & coal interests may be the drivers:

● Kentucky’s Berkeley Energy Group & EDF Renewable Energy are considering a solar farm with a peak capacity of 100 megaWatts:


Renew Economy – “Kentucky coal company to build state’s largest solar farm on old coal mine”
http://reneweconomy.com.au/kentucky-coal-company-build-states-largest-solar-farm-old-coal-mine-14857/


Insurance Journal – “Coal Mining Company Proposes Turning Kentucky Mine Into Solar Farm”
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2017/04/21/448601.htm


● In the small town of Benham (population 5001), the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum, owned by Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College, is investing in solar panels. Budget cuts have necessitated cost saving measures:


WYMT – “Kentucky Coal Mining Museum converts to solar power”
http://www.wymt.com/content/news/Kentucky-Coal-Mining-Museum-converts-to-solar-power-418430563.html


Huffington Post – “A Coal Museum In Kentucky Went Solar This Month. The Backstory Is Even Better.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kentucky-coal-solar_us_58f76a49e4b029063d3590a9


New York Times: “Coal Museum Sees the Future; Trump Doesn’t”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/opinion/coal-museum-sees-the-future-trump-doesnt.html

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1 Wikipedia: “Benham, Kentucky”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benham,_Kentucky

/ coal mining company turning Kentucky mine into solar farm former strip mine converted into solar farm under proposal Appalachian coal company hundreds of thousands of panels Kentucky mountains Berkeley Energy Group EDF Renewable Energy former Democratic state Auditor Adam Edelen mountaintop removal site Pikeville Kentucky coal country diversify energy output nation’s third-largest coal producing state economic impact declining coal industry state legislature voted decades long moratorium nuclear energy Kentucky Coal Museum installed solar panels on its roof build solar on the foundation of coal Kentucky energy producer powered the entire country adopt an all of the above energy strategy Kentucky more than 80 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants percentage dropping steadily coal plants replaced natural gas largest solar farm Kentucky Louisville Gas & Electric’s E.W. Brown Plant Mercer County 10-megawatt array solar panels 50 acres produces enough electricity power 1,500 homes Berkeley Energy Group Development Executive Ryan Johns proposed solar farm generate between 50 100 megawatts electricity sold to power companies along East Coast project cost tens of millions of dollars include hundreds of thousands of solar panels strip mines thousands of acres engineering and cost studies coal mined using mountaintop removal surface coal mining technique blasting heavy machinery remove layers dirt rock coal seams jobs project construction phase officials EDF Renewable Energy hire former coal miners work Eastern Kentucky filled with former coal mines redeveloped various purposes Tyler White president Kentucky Coal Association proposed solar farm subsidies federal tax credits coal rolling back policies winners and losers /

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