In the hills of Mercer County, a lone wind turbine stands near experimental solar panels and battery storage – 165 feet tall with three massive spinning blades.

It’s part of the Renewable Integration Research Facility at the E.W. Brown Generating Station, which includes Kentucky’s first utility-scale solar farm and oldest hydroelectric dam.

“There are a few sites like this in the country where we have so many different generating technologies in one location,” said Aron Patrick, the senior director of research and development at PPL Corporation, the parent company of Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities. “I would say this is really unique in the United States, because right at this location we have hydro, solar, wind, batteries, coal and gas all in one location, so it is very, very unique. If we were to go to hundreds of power plants, we would not find something like this.”

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This wind turbine itself is unique, too. It’s the first utility-scale wind turbine in the state, according to LG&E, KU and PPL.

Since its installation in early 2024, the wind turbine has provided power to six homes. It’s integrated into the larger grid with other power sources at the E.W. Brown Generating Station.

“What we’re trying to do is study how all of these renewables work together to provide more reliable, lower cost service for our customers,” Patrick said.

While this wind turbine contributes to the ongoing research for PPL, in counties across Kentucky, communities are starting the process of enacting energy ordinances and moratoriums. At least three counties – Henderson, Daviess and Trimble – are working on new regulations for wind energy in their community.

Resistance to renewable energy infrastructure

Some residents of Henderson County have concerns about the presence of renewable energy in their community.

James Franks — a small business owner, volunteer fireman and lifetime Henderson County resident — said before discussions about the wind turbines, a representative from the Environmental Protection Agency gave firefighters a presentation about procedures for fires at a battery energy storage system, or BESS. At that time, Franks said those were being considered for the community.

“They told us the dangers of it essentially are – from a fire perspective – they can’t be extinguished,” Franks said. “There’s not a way to extinguish them once they ignite. It’s …what they call a thermal runaway, as to where it just kind of goes and they ignite kind of like firecrackers.”

Franks said the presenter started telling them about evacuation zones and how it would be 40 hours before the fire would burn out. Franks lives near one of the proposed BESS sites and thought of his family and neighbors who would be displaced in the event of a fire.

He said this “started the fight” about renewable energy in Henderson.

“Wind is just the latest in the assault on Henderson County’s landscape, more or less. And I say assault just because, as a resident, our landscape has changed so much,” Franks said.

In 2023, Henderson County officials approved a 1,700-acre solar farm and another solar company also came to the area. These projects are near Robards, a small town in Henderson County. This land used to be agricultural, but now some homes have lost their pastoral views.

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He said there are many lingering questions, including the public health impacts of renewable energy systems and how their presence could affect property values.

“How close are these to schools? What happens when one of these starts leaking oils?” Franks said. “What happens when a tornado comes through and breaks one? What happens when they catch on fire? What happens when the company goes bankrupt, or if the company’s sold?”

Henderson County officials are in the process of trying to provide some information to the community.

In July, the Henderson County Fiscal Court placed a one-year moratorium on wind turbines and requested that the planning commission research the energy resource . In early September, the Henderson City-County Planning Commission voted to recommend a two-year moratorium on new wind energy projects.

“It’s a long process, and because it’s new technology to our community, new concerns, a lot of unknowns, it may take quite some time to get through the whole process,” Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider said. “It’s a new frontier for us.”

Schneider said public interest increased after an online post in June about the Federal Aviation Administration evaluating potential wind turbine sites in the county.

Cordelio Power, which manages renewable power, submitted a proposal to the FAA for 93 potential locations.

“In some people’s corners, they just didn’t want it,” Schneider said. “They had an opinion about potential consequences of wind turbine locations. If you do research online or Google wind turbines online, you can find any kind of information you want about them, from the fact that they’ll help save the planet and they’re the best thing ever to they kill birds, they hurt people, and they’ll destroy your property values and everything in between.”

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He said the companies interested in putting wind turbines in Henderson County had met with land owners about potential leases, and those people were supportive of the project. Schneider said other residents that might not get online or come to public meetings might have different opinions.

“This is new for our community, not something we ever thought we’d see here, so the kind of startling reality that somebody’s actually thinking about doing it here has engendered a lot of emotion and opinions,” he said.

The science behind wind turbines

Larry Holloway, the Kentucky Utilities Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky, said one of the advantages of wind energy is its low cost. The biggest expense is upfront capital to build the turbines, and it has no fuel costs.

“West Kentucky and the Bluegrass area have some decent wind resources,” Holloway said. “Out in western Kentucky in particular, it’s been noted places like Carlisle and Graves County. In the Bluegrass area, Scott and Bourbon Counties have been noted by some recent studies and analysis and predictions.There are decent resources in those places – doesn’t mean they’re quite the same as a Kansas or an Iowa or a Texas.”

The highest expected wind speeds in Kentucky have been calculated to be in Harlan County, according to analysis done by the National Renewable Energy Lab.

There is no magic number of wind turbines that could possibly power the entire state of Kentucky. Holloway said one could calculate how much energy the state or one county might need, but the cost of the energy storage required to do that would not make it very cost-effective.

The federal government has offered subsidies to companies that build renewable energy sources in recent years, but those are now going away. Holloway said people are also favorable to wind energy because it emits no CO2 when produced.

One potential downside of renewable energy is its intermittency, meaning the output fluctuates.

“If you want wind power right now, you don’t know whether the wind is going to be blowing right now,” Holloway said. “But if you think about that in terms of a bigger mix of energy supplies, the wind may be blowing on stormy days when solar is not generating. You have this idea that if you have a diverse set of energy sources, you’re going to be able to tap into different ones when one may not be working, or you may be able to, in fact, supplement with another one.”

Even at the generating station in Mercer County, the wind turbine isn’t doing all the work. Aron Patrick, with the PPL Corporation, said their efforts include using different energy sources to complement each other.

“Conceivably, the power that’s generated here from renewable energy can go anywhere on the grid, really, anywhere in the eastern United States,” he said. “We are storing with batteries, though, so really, the goal here is to try to use the batteries to store renewable energy when solar, hydro or wind are available, and then to discharge those batteries when solar, wind and hydro are not available.”

Patrick said the blades on the turbine can be replaced and recycled. If there’s a tornado or wind speeds above about 45 miles per hour, the turbine will deploy mechanical breaks that will lock the blades into place and turn into the wind in order to prevent them from spinning faster than the equipment can handle. Patrick said PPL is working with researchers from the University of Kentucky to study the impact on birds – none that they’re seen so far, but there does seem to be some potential impact on bats.

This story was produced by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky and NPR.