Microsoft-Funded Solar Projects Planned In Arkansas

Microsoft offices in Polaris, Ohio (Shutterstock)

Carbon solutions platform Clearloop of Nashville, Tennessee, has announced an agreement with tech giant Microsoft to build up to 100 megawatts of renewable energy projects, including at least three in Arkansas, over the next three years.

Construction on the solar projects in Poinsett, Cross and Desha counties is expected to begin in the coming months, with the arrays planned to begin “interconnecting and serving the local distribution grids” by the end of the year, Clearloop said in a news release.

The projects in Arkansas are among 20 planned for “historically underinvested communities” under the deal with Microsoft, the release said. The new solar portfolio will be developed, owned and operated by Clearloop parent company Silicon Ranch, which is partially owned by oil and gas giant Shell.

The value of the projects, which will support Microsoft’s goal to become carbon negative by 2030, was not disclosed.

Clearloop expects the new solar portfolio will prevent more than 5 million metric tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere over the next four decades.

As part of the agreement, Clearloop will create a community benefits fund to be managed by nonprofit Sustain Our Future Foundation. The fund aims to support positive outcomes for local communities impacted by unhealthy social and environmental conditions.

Clearloop and Microsoft’s first solar project together, a facility in Panola County, Mississippi, became operational last summer.

“We applaud Microsoft for using its purchasing power to pilot and scale innovative structures that accelerate grid decarbonization in a way that ensures all American communities can see themselves represented as we transform our economy with clean, innovative technologies,” Laura Zapata, co-founder and CEO of Clearloop, said in the release.