Struggling to meet a self-imposed goal of running city government operations on 100% clean electricity by 2030, Louisville Metro officials are suggesting a somewhat controversial approach to get there — they want to buy renewable energy certificates.

The certificates — or RECs — can be bought by governments or corporations to stake a claim to the green energy produced by a specific project, like a solar farm. Even if they won't directly receive that energy to light up their own buildings, they can claim it as part of their power usage.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg’s team wants Metro Council to approve spending up to $700,000 a year on RECs from a future solar energy project in Western Kentucky. But a council committee rejected the proposal last week. The full council is expected to v

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