As communities continue to recover following recent severe weather, Governor Andy Beshear awarded $6 million in grants to improve electric grid reliability, and Hopkinsville Electric System and the Princeton Electric Plant Board were among the recipients.
At Thursday’s Team Kentucky Update, Beshear shared that many power grids across the state have been impacted by recent severe weather resulting in mass power outages. While areas are still rebuilding following May’s tornadoes and severe storms, Beshear says the investment in power grid resilience will ensure fewer people lose power when future severe weather impacts Kentucky.
HES received $1.45 million, the Princeton Electric Plant Board received $1.75 million, Owensboro Municipal Utilities received $1.7 million and the Williamstown Utility Commission received $1.1 million from the Kentucky Grid Resilience Grant.
In a blog post from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, HES Controller Cody Noffsinger says the grant will allow them to strengthen their electric grid, which serves 13,000 homes and businesses. Beshear says the grant funds awarded to HES will go toward a project that detects outages in real time and provide energy consumption data to customers.
Grant funds awarded to the Princeton Electric Plant Board will go toward a two-phase resilience project. In the first phase, 61 wooden power poles will be replaced with more durable steel poles and around 30,000 feet of power lines will be replaced with more durable material. In the second phase, 4,200 smart meters with GPS and real-time alert systems will be installed.
Plant Board General Manager Chris Burton says the grant is not only an investment in their community today, but also in the well-being of future generations.