Entergy Corp. of New Orleans is set to soak up some sun, thanks in part to a 4.5-gigawatt solar power generation deal announced last month with NextEra Energy Resources.
NextEra, of Juno Beach, Florida, has partnered on four projects with Entergy Corp. subsidiary Entergy Arkansas LLC over the past six years.
Entergy Arkansas, the state’s largest electric company serving about 735,000 Arkansas meters, also has two proposed projects with NextEra next year. Those arrays, Flat Fork Solar and Forgeview Solar in St. Francis, Lee, Monroe and Mississippi counties, are not part of the new 4.5-gigawatt deal.
A gigawatt, by the way, is a million watts, about a thousand times as much power as the output of each of Entergy Arkansas’ early utility-scale solar farms.
“[NextEra] developed our Stuttgart Solar project, our Chicot Solar project, our Searcy Solar project and our current West Memphis project,” Entergy Arkansas CEO Laura Landreaux said in an interview. “All of those were bid through RFPs and were selected through that process.”
“The West Memphis project is under construction,” Landreaux said. “I don’t know if you’ve driven to Memphis lately, but it’s all out there and visible. I passed it over the weekend. It looked fabulous.” The 180-megawatt powerhouse should be finished by the end of the year, Landreaux said.
The 81-megawatt Stuttgart Solar project has been creating electricity under a power purchase agreement with NextEra since 2018. It was Entergy Arkansas’ first utility-scale sun plant, and a cornerstone of the two companies’ partnership.
The 100-megawatt Chicot Solar project outside Lake Village came online in 2020 and it, too, delivers power to Arkansans through a purchase agreement with Entergy Arkansas.
The projects in Searcy and West Memphis are different. NextEra developed the solar fields for sale to Entergy. The Searcy project, which includes 100 megawatts of solar generation and 10 megawatts of battery storage, connected to the grid in 2022. Entergy will also own and operate the West Memphis solar farm that NextEra is developing.
Invenergy of Chicago is building another Entergy Arkansas solar project in the Memphis region, the 100-megawatt Walnut Bend array in Lee County. Entergy plans to buy it once it’s completed later this year.
Entergy Arkansas’ Driver Solar plant in Mississippi County will power the new Big River 2 steel plant in Osceola. Entergy Arkansas, an investor-owned utility, will also own that 250-megawatt facility, its largest solar generation unit to date. A subsidiary of Lightsource BP designed and is building Driver Solar. With regulatory approval, Entergy will buy it when it starts operating this year.
The Flat Fork Solar project at the nexus of St. Francis, Lee and Monroe counties will have a capacity of 200 megawatts. NextEra will own and operate it under a purchase power agreement, according to a list of Entergy Corp. renewable generation projects in service or under development. The same arrangement is set for Forgeview Solar, a 200- megawatt project in Mississippi County.
“The Forgeview Solar project is more than solar panels — it represents a significant capital investment in Arkansas,” NextEra said in a statement.
Landreaux said the new agreement between Entergy Corp. and NextEra is “an opportunity for two powerhouses to come together, combine their resources and do what we both want to do: bring renewable, sustainable energy” to customers.
The deal could bring new projects to Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi or Texas. It is designed to give Entergy access to NextEra’s supply chain and development experience in projects that Entergy could build itself or acquire and own.
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