The Rhythm of Renewables: Minute-by-Minute Insights from Kentucky

Kentucky’s renewable energy landscape beats with a distinct rhythm shaped by ever-changing variations in sunlight, wind, rainfall, and the ever-modernizing grid that connects them. This paper analyzes minute-by-minute performance data from seven renewable and storage assets owned and operated by the PPL Corporation in Kentucky, including hydroelectric, solar, wind, and lithium-ion battery systems. Using a full year of synchronized, high-resolution data from multiple sites in the Commonwealth, the study examines daily and seasonal capacity factor trends, explores correlations among generation types, and evaluates their alignment with utility load profiles. Our analysis found 279 hours—about 3.2% of the year—with zero renewable output whatsoever, but diversity across solar, wind, and hydro sites reduced these outages by 94% compared to reliance on solar alone. Conversely, there were only three minutes of the year where all renewable resources operated above 85% capacity simultaneously. The analysis reveals technical challenges of renewables, but also how hydro, solar, and wind resources complement one another across weather and daylight cycles, and how a diverse portfolio of renewables and energy storage can mitigate their intermittency. Collectively, these data provide the most detailed, data-driven portrait of renewable energy ever recorded in Kentucky—illuminating both the technical challenges and the promise of integrating diverse renewable resources into a balanced, affordable, and resilient energy system