Entergy Arkansas seeking new bid proposals for utility-scale solar, wind power projects
July 11-17, 2022
By Wesley Brown
Entergy Arkansas continues to push the envelope on renewable energy after recently issuing a request for proposals (RFP) for 1,000 megawatts (MW) of “utility-scale” solar and wind generation power, company officials announced on June 30.
The Little Rock-based subsidiary of Entergy Corp. currently has 281 MW of solar power providing clean, emission-free renewable energy to customers — enough to power 45,000 homes. Entergy Arkansas’ Kurt Castleberry said the new RFP is in line with the company’s all-in strategy on renewable energy, which provides cost-effective energy supply, capacity, fuel diversity and other benefits to its customers.
“Entergy Arkansas has a commitment to providing our customers with low-cost, reliable energy as well as more renewable generation,” said Castleberry, director of resource planning and marketing operations. “We continue to grow green energy within our diverse portfolio of power resources to better serve our existing and growing customer base and look forward to some exciting proposals.”
In an interview with The Daily Record, Castleberry reiterated that the new RFP and Entergy Arkansas’ renewable energy strategy is part of the company’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which was filed with the state Public Service Commission (APSC) in October 2021.
Under the IRP plan, the Arkansas utility is working to evolve towards decentralized and renewable resources. That plan also dovetails with parent and New Orleans-based Entergy Corp’s ambitious new strategy to lower the company’s carbon footprint by 50% by 2030.
Earlier on Jan. 27, Entergy Chairman and CEO Leo Denault reiterated it is collaborating closely with its customers across its entire four-state service region to meet their growing clean power needs.
Denault, who in April 2019 acknowledged that climate change was impacting the company’s business model, also said recent announcements by major industrial companies have illustrated how clean and affordable electricity drives economic growth and increases investment in our communities.
“We are collaborating with our customers to meet their needs and help them achieve the outcomes they desire,” said Denault. “They need energy solutions that are not only affordable and reliable, but increasingly clean, and we are delivering products to help them achieve their important environmental and sustainability objectives.”
During the same week that Denault was touting Entergy Corp’s system-wide portfolio of renewable resources, Entergy Arkansas was also announcing its newest solar generation source is online and pumping power onto the electric grid. On Jan. 17, the Searcy Solar Energy Center was added to Entergy Arkansas’ portfolio of renewable energy. It is among the first projects in the state to include battery storage and can store 30 MW to provide power, rain or shine.
Searcy Solar is the third project in Arkansas that produces solar power for the Little Rock-based utility operator, adding 100 MW to the previous 181 MW online. It joins Stuttgart Solar, an 81 MW facility, and Chicot Solar at Lake Village, a 100 MW facility, both of which are under long-term contracts between Entergy Arkansas and subsidiaries of NextEra Energy Resources. Company officials said these solar energy resources are projected to save customers more than $190 million and will help protect the environment for many years to come.
For Entergy Arkansas, Castleberry said the company’s 152-page 2021 IRP outlines a futures-based approach that focuses on affordability, reliability, and environmental stewardship, while also considering risk. That future also includes eliminating coal from the company’s energy portfolio in order to meet Entergy Corp’s aggressive goal to reduce carbon emissions from its operations to net-zero by 2050.
“The IRP lays out our long-term plans over the next 20 years. And it calls for Entergy Arkansas to have about 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy resources by 2030. You know, that’s only eight years away,” said Castleberry. “We have a tall task ahead of us, but we are making good progress toward achieving that, which is driven by customer demand.”
Under the RFP, Castleberry said resources would be procured through a combination of one or more build-own-transfer agreements, self-build alternatives, and/or one or more power purchase agreements that would be in operation between May 2025 and December 2026.
Solar facilities would be required to be within the Entergy Arkansas service territory, while wind resources could be located anywhere in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) or Southwest Power Pool (SPP) footprints.
Both SPP and MISO, two of the nation’s key grid operators, have recently made large investments to upgrade their renewable energy output. In late March, SPP reported that renewable energy served 90.2% of the electricity demand across the Little Rock-based grid operator’s 14-state footprint, setting a record for a U.S. regional transmission organization.
Nearly a year ago, Carmel, Ind-based MISO, which operates its state-of-the-art grid command center in west Little Rock, filed its regulatory “road map” that outlines the addition of more interstate transmission lines to the grid so that increased amounts of renewable energy like wind and solar can move across state lines. It has also been nearly a decade since Entergy Corp. completed the integration of its transmission system from SPP into MISO.
As a part of that historic pact, MISO’s board of directors approved a $2.7 billion expansion plan across the grid operator’s 15-state footprint in 2015, including $170 million in investments that will upgrade Arkansas’ aging electricity infrastructure.
Under the Entergy Arkansas RFP, Castleberry said the state’s largest utility expects to get a dozen or more utility-scale proposals for renewable energy. Today, the Entergy Corp subsidiary is the largest energy provider in Arkansas and has a diverse mix of energy sources to ensure reliability, safe and cost-effective power to its 728,000 customers that are spread out among 63 of the state’s 75 counties, covering more than 40,880 square miles.
Castleberry said additional solar and wind resources would complement the diverse and carbon-free generation Entergy Arkansas fleet, which includes hydroelectric facilities at Carpenter and Remmel dams, three solar facilities and Arkansas Nuclear One. Nuclear energy accounts for about 70% of the fuel mix for the company’s customers, followed by hydropower at 16%, with the remaining power sourced from coal, natural gas and solar.
Castleberry also noted that Entergy Arkansas' aggressive IRP plans put the utility well ahead of its Entergy sibling subsidiaries in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. However, he noted that the other Entergy subsidiaries are also retooling their renewable energy power mix.
For example, Entergy Mississippi said it will add one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity including solar to its portfolio over the next 5 years to replace aging natural gas plants. In November 2021, Entergy Louisiana announced plans to purchase 475 megawatts of solar power.
The bidder registration deadline for Entergy Arkansas’ RFP is Monday, July 11, at 5 p.m. The Arkansas power producer has issued RFP documents on the 2022 EAL Renewables RFP website, https://www.entergy-arkansas.com/rfp/energy_capacity/.
The bidder’s conference is scheduled for July 14, and details will be provided to all registered bidders. For more information, visit the Entergy Arkansas resource planning page on its website, www.entergy-arkansas.com/integrated_resource_planning/.
Photo Captions:
1. Kurt Castleberry
2. Entergy Arkansas officials recently announced it has issued a request for proposals for 1,000 megawatts of solar and wind generation resources. Arkansas' largest utility currently has 281 megawatts of solar power providing renewable energy to customers – enough to power 45,000 homes.
