On April 13, Kentucky cooperatives hosted students to an educational day in Frankfort as part of the Rural Electric Youth Tour Program. In all, 160 students and chaperons from 19 cooperatives participated.

The day started with tours of the State Capitol and Governor’s Mansion before hearing from House Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Shell. Shell was the youngest member of the general assembly when he was elected in 2012, because of this he encouraged the students not to let age hold them back.

The group then moved to the Kentucky Historical Museum where they heard from Jacqueline Pitts, managing editor of The Bottom Line, about the involvement of media in politics and from KEES coordinator, Sara Wooden, about financial assistance for college.  Students then had the opportunity to tour the Old Capitol Building and the Kentucky Historical Museum giving them time to become better acquainted with one another. At the end of the day the cooperatives had the option of visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

From the group, approximately 100 students will be chosen to participate in a week-long Washington Youth Tour in June. During this trip students will join participants from across the country for a week of leadership training, conversations with elected leaders, and taking in the sights of our Nation’s Capitol.

The tour is coordinated by Kentucky electric cooperative’s statewide association—Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives—and you can see more photographs from the April 13 tour at KAEC’s Flickr page.

Members of Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives who want to help the environment and future generations by powering their home or business with renewable energy will soon have their chance. The co-ops have teamed together to build and operate a 60-acre solar farm that is expected to begin generating sun-powered electricity this fall.

State regulators recently gave the green light to plans for Cooperative Solar, the largest sun-to-electricity community solar farm in Kentucky. The facility is expected to produce enough electricity to satisfy the power needs of about 1,000 homes.

More than 32,000 solar panels are being installed on land adjacent to the headquarters of EKPC.

Cooperative Solar One, as the new solar farm is called, will provide members an easy, affordable way to benefit from sun power without the hassle, maintenance and expense of owning your own solar electricity generation.

Interested members will pay a one-time fee of $460 to license a single solar panel for 25 years. Each panel is expected to produce up to 50 kilowatt-hours of solar energy monthly.

To learn more, visit www.cooperativesolar.com.