Owensboro’s City Utility Commission is expected to consider a solar power supply recommendation on Thursday, Sept. 20, less than a month after the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency approved its own measure to begin purchasing power from the state’s largest planned solar field in Lyon County near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.
Officials with Owensboro Municipal Utilities won’t comment on the recommendation before it is formally introduced at Thursday’s 11:30 a.m. meeting, but several commissioners have commented on their intent to join KYMEA in a consolidated purchase power agreement with a solar array under construction that would be Kentucky’s largest.
According to details that surfaced after the joint, 11-agency meeting met late last month, the 800-acre, 86-megawatt solar array planned in Lyon County would be Kentucky’s seventh and by far its largest farm. Kentucky Utilities’ 10-megawatt plant in Harrodsburg is currently the largest, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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“This project should be seen as a win-win as it will provide both local economic development benefits to Western Kentucky along with affordable power for KYMEA members,” he said. “We are pleased to see in-state, utility-scale solar selected by KYMEA as part of their least-cost supply portfolio.”