By Bob Matyi

May 17, 2018 - Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities have purchased 500,000 st of spot coal for several power plants this year, Delbert Billiter, manager of fuels for the PPL Corp. subsidiaries, said Tuesday.

In an interview, Billiter confirmed the purchase amounts, saying some of the coal was being delivered as of April this year. But the majority of the tonnage is scheduled for delivery in the second and third quarters of 2018, he said.

According to Billiter, the coal burn at LG&E and KU, Kentucky's two largest electric utilities, has been "decent" for the past few weeks after hot weather descended upon much of the Commonwealth and air conditioners started humming.

Initially, the spot coal solicitation was aimed at supply the 749-MW E.W. Brown and 1,472-MW Mill Creek power plants. However, he said the spot deliveries would not be restricted to those two plants.

Billiter said the utilities received an adequate number of bids in the solicitation that closed in early March.

Flooding on the Ohio River earlier this year shut down barge coal deliveries for about a week. In early March, the Ohio River at Louisville was at its highest mark since 1997, a result of snow melt and heavy rains upriver. 

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