Climate Change

Global climate change is one of the most important issues facing the world. Responding to the issue is likely to result in profound changes to society and the ways it produces and uses energy.

As a company that generates, markets and delivers energy, PPL understands the responsibility to address climate change in a reasoned and informed way that works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining a strong economy and providing reliable electricity supply.

In 2008, PPL facilities in the U.S. generated 53.1 million megawatt-hours of electricity. Of that total, about 60 percent was generated using fossil fuels (link), and about 40 percent was generated using energy sources that do not emit carbon dioxide.

PPL has taken a number of actions to prepare for the issues associated with a carbon constrained future. In 2008, PPL created a Climate Change department whose objective is to develop and manage a strategic response to the climate change issue in support of Corporate objectives. This group’s focus is currently on federal legislative proposals and their potential impacts on the corporation, its shareholders and its customers. In addition, PPL is evaluating how it might comply with climate change legislation and find new business opportunities.

PPL has actively participated in the development of federal, state and regional responses to global climate change. For example, PPL supports the Bingaman-Specter Low Carbon Economy Act of 2007, and PPL Montana is a participating member of the Governor’s Climate Change Advisory Committee that developed 54 recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state. In Pennsylvania, PPL participated in the development of a Climate Change Roadmap for the commonwealth, and participated in the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Carbon Management Advisory Group.

PPL also is a member of industry associations providing their views to federal and state climate change policymakers. These groups include the Edison Electric Institute, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, among others.

In the United Kingdom, new government requirements have been established to undertake enhanced, risk-based, vegetation management to provide greater overhead line network resilience against severe wind storms. PPL’s U.K. electric distribution company, Western Power Distribution (WPD), has developed policies and procedures to meet these new requirements.

U.K. government and regulatory policy is being developed to require investment to improve resilience of substations against flooding, on a risk-based, cost-benefit basis. WPD has engaged at the local level with the U.K. environmental regulator and the national level with the U.K. government utilities regulator to assess the risk of flooding at WPD substations and to receive regulatory guidance on the nature and extent of warranted flood mitigation investment. 

WPD has participated in collaborative research with other distribution, transmission, supply and generation companies on a project with the U.K. Meteorological Office, world recognized Hadley Centre, to formulate models of climatology to assess likely timescales and impacts of climate change on a range of variables including ambient temperature, solar gain, wind speed and storm return periods.

Within the upcoming five-year price setting review, the U.K. regulator requested companies to publicly consult company-developed options for environmental improvement actions. WPD will seek stakeholder comment on options to reduce system energy losses and reduce associated greenhouse gas emissions. A further option to be put to stakeholders for consideration is to retire early a small number of old technology bulk sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) 132-kilovolt circuit breakers -- each of which contains some 318 kilograms of SF6. (The loss of such a quantity of gas from one circuit breaker is about the equivalent to the emissions from a loaded jumbo jet undertaking 27 trans-Atlantic flights.)

PPL has many activities under way to prepare the company for expected climate change requirements, with a focus on renewable energy projects and energy efficiency. These emission reducing activities include:

• PPL invests in renewable energy projects that use wind, landfill methane, sunlight and fuel cells to generate electricity. Two of PPL’s landfill energy projects have been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program. The Frey Farm landfill gas-to-energy project in Lancaster County, Pa., was named a 2006 EPA Project of the Year and the Greater Lebanon landfill gas-to-energy project in Lebanon County, Pa. was selected as a 2007 Community Partner of the Year.

• PPL purchased 479,199 megawatt-hours of renewable energy in 2008. 

• PPL is a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership in the northwestern U.S. to support the development of technologies that can provide for long-term storage of carbon dioxide through geologic or terrestrial sequestration.

• PPL has increased electric generation capacity at existing nuclear and hydro plants.

• In 2008, PPL submitted a Combined License (COL) Application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a new 1,600-megawatt nuclear generating unit in Pennsylvania.

• PPL decommissioned two older coal-fired units at the Martins Creek power plant in 2007, reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions by about 1 million tons.

• PPL Electric Utilities has installed an advanced metering system for its 1.4 million Pennsylvania customers, one of the first systems in the U.S. This technology will enable the company to offer new customer rate options and demand-side management programs to help customers plan and reduce their electricity use.

• PPL Electric Utilities launched a Web-based program called e-power that encourages customers to conserve energy and educates them on ways they can save money on their electric bills.

• PPL Electric Utilities has proposed expanding programs for customer demand-side management and energy efficiency and has a target of offering time-of-use pricing options to all residential and small business customers in 2010.

• A building at PPL’s headquarters was the first privately owned building in Pennsylvania to receive a “Gold” rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

• PPL Electric Utilities uses bio-diesel alternative fuel (20 percent supplemented with soybean or vegetable oil) for more than 300 fleet vehicles.

• PPL participates on the Montana Governor’s Climate Change Advisory Committee, which recently made 54 recommendations on climate change issues for the state.

• As part of the upcoming five-year regulatory price-setting mechanism, WPD is seeking stakeholder views on options to reduce system energy losses and thus greenhouse gases. Alongside these options is one to phase out use of bulk sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) circuit breakers on the basis of environmental greenhouse gas emission risk.

• The transport fleet at WPD has been modernized and emissions reduced through improved gas mileage.