A widely circulated plan to expand solar energy production in Franklin County drew significant criticism at the Frankfort Plant Board’s monthly meeting on Tuesday night, both from board members and
McDonald and Baldwin initially presented their proposal on March 1.
Under the plan, the city, county and schools would purchase all of their electricity from the new solar farm instead of FPB.
The meeting will air Tuesday at 5 p.m. on FPB Cable 10 and on FPB s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/fewpb .
Dear editor,
The Frankfort Plant Board has a win-win opportunity before it: A proposal developed by Apogee Climate and Energy Transitions would build a solar facility to serve Frankfort schools and government buildings, cutting their annual energy costs in half, and saving taxpayers over a million dollars annually.
Further benefits include economic development and reduced emissions linked to climate and health costs, e.g., the EPA estimates that replacing fossil fuels with the amount of solar proposed would save $500,000 to $1.2 million annually in health care costs.
Most schools and local governments in Kentucky have limited access to solar energy because of current restrictions that protect monopoly, investor-owned utilities. Kentucky municipal utilities do not have these restrictions; they are free to allow third-party ownership of solar panels through power purchase agreements and allow virtual net metering that distributes credit for energy fed to the grid among multiple user
Editorial: Solar project merits community s serious consideration state-journal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from state-journal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Among the items to be discussed or voted on at the Frankfort Plant Boardâs monthly meeting Tuesday is one that could significantly shake up Frankfortâs energy landscape.Â
The authors of the proposal, Andy McDonald and Walt Baldwin, estimate that a developer would invest $25 million to $35 million in the project in order to provide power to all four public entities at a rate almost half that of FPBâs current retail electricity rate.Â
The planâs implementation is contingent on the FPB board s approval. The proposed facility would be funded by a private developer at no cost to the local government entities, McDonald said.Â