KY HB398

Amends KRS 278.264 to establish a rebuttable presumption against the retirement of fossil fuel-fired electric generating units, requiring utilities to obtain commission approval before retiring any generating unit

Requires replacement generating capacity to be dispatchable, maintain or improve grid reliability and resilience, meet minimum reserve capacity requirements, and match or exceed the capacity value of the retired unit

Prohibits utilities from commencing retirement until replacement capacity is fully constructed, permitted, and operational, and bars retirement approvals if driven by federal financial incentives or if retirement would cause net incremental costs to ratepayers

Adds new subsection (6) clarifying the commission retains authority to approve utilities' recovery of decommissioning, removal, salvage, and depreciation costs through rates over a generating unit's estimated depreciable life prior to retirement authorization

Defines "dispatchable" as non-intermittent power sources adjustable on demand, and classifies solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and energy storage under 48 hours as "intermittent" sources that do not qualify as replacement capacity