Kentucky

Kentucky solar in 2026

Kentucky does not have one statewide solar answer. The first question is whether your supplier still has an obligation to offer net metering to a new customer-generator. KRS 278.466 lets a supplier end that obligation once its cumulative net-metering capacity reaches 1 percent of its single-hour peak load. If a salesperson skips that question, the rest of the quote is premature.

Kentucky production is steady. Policy availability is not.

Paducah is our high city and Lexington the low city, but the whole set stays within a tight band. A roof in either city can produce. The buyer risk sits upstream: availability, compensation rate, and credit rules at the serving utility.

Method: PVGIS v5.2 model runs by Solar Learning Lab on August 18, 2026, using the NSRDB radiation database. Assumptions: fixed roof mount, south facing, 30 degree tilt, 14 percent losses. Your roof will differ.

Read KRS 278.466 as a sequence, not a slogan

KRS 278.466 came from 2019 Senate Bill 100, signed on March 26, 2019. The statute begins with an obligation: a retail electric supplier must offer net metering to eligible customer-generators it serves or solicits. Then comes the constraint that changes the buying sequence. Once cumulative net-metering capacity reaches 1 percent of the supplier's single-hour peak load during a calendar year, that supplier has no further obligation to offer net metering to new customer-generators at any later time.

That is why an installer's first useful document is not a panel layout. It is written confirmation from the serving supplier about availability. Kentucky Utilities serves customers across 77 Kentucky counties and five Virginia counties, while Louisville Gas and Electric serves Louisville and 16 surrounding counties. A statewide marketing line cannot answer a supplier-level availability question. The home's address can.

If the supplier is offering net metering, exported electricity that flows to the supplier is measured by a standard kWh meter and compensated at a rate the Public Service Commission sets through KRS Chapter 278 ratemaking. The bill treatment is dollars, not an automatic stockpile of retail-priced kWh. Excess credits roll into the next billing period, but they cannot move to another customer or premises, and the supplier does not cash them out when the account ends. That makes overproduction a weak moving strategy.

Older systems are a separate category. Facilities in service before the effective date of the Commission's initial net-metering order keep the tariff provisions in force when they began service at that premises for 25 years, including the earlier one-to-one crediting basis. A new buyer should not borrow that history for a current quote. Ask whether extra meters or distribution upgrades are needed as well, because the statute assigns those costs to the customer-generator.

Statute and enactment record: KRS 278.466 and Kentucky Legislature, 19RS SB 100.

Kentucky has no state incentive to rescue a weak tariff

First qualify the utility, then use the calculator

This calculator is a production and cost screen. It cannot tell you whether your supplier is still accepting new net-metered customers, what its PSC-set export rate is, or whether added metering and distribution work will be charged to you. Get those answers first.

Ask Kentucky installers the availability question first

These Kentucky entries use Google Business listing ratings from our August 2026 pull. They are starting points, not endorsements. Ask every contractor for the serving utility's current net-metering availability in writing before you compare panel brands.