he City of Stuttgart, AR and Scenic Hill Solar will host a groundbreaking ceremony of the first solar power plant for the City on Thursday, July 2nd at 2 PM about a quarter-mile west of Highway 165 on Old England Hwy
The public-private partnership to power the City with renewable electricity was announced in July, 2019. When completed, the first phase will total 1.3 MW DC of capacity and will produce approximately 40 percent of the electricity needed for the City’s operations in Entergy Arkansas service territory.
A second phase of the project totaling 1.85 MW DC will be reviewed by the Arkansas Public Service Commission. The property is adjacent to a site recently purchased by the Stuttgart School District for its solar power plant.
“We’re very delighted to see the fruition of more than a year’s worth of planning and development of this solar power plant,” said Mayor David Earney. “We’re at the forefront of a larger trend in the State of Arkansas and especially in our City of Stuttgart. When these projects are complete, we’ll add Solar Power to our proud reputation as the Duck and Rice Capital of the World. We’re immensely proud to be responsible stewards of the environment and our budget, and we invite businesses looking to relocate to Stuttgart as a community that embraces renewable energy.” Earney added, “The project will have a multi-million dollar benefit to Stuttgart and the region at a time when economic growth around the world is on life support.”
“We are proud to partner with the City of Stuttgart to build solar power plants and advance the City’s economic and sustainability goals,” said Bill Halter, CEO of Scenic Hill Solar. “Mayor David Earney and the City Council should be commended for seizing the opportunity to build the Stuttgart of the future – one powered by renewable energy. Hand-in-hand with many of the major institutions in Stuttgart, they are transforming their energy supply and creating much-needed jobs in the process. These solar power plants planned for the City will provide an over $5 million capital infusion for Stuttgart in an otherwise precarious global economy. Renewable energy continues to lay the foundation for cleaner, brighter, and more resilient institutions across Arkansas, and Stuttgart will serve as a model for communities across the State. With the approval of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, we are confident that the City of Stuttgart will become a city with one of the highest rates of renewable energy per capita in the nation.”
The 1.3 MW and 1.85 MW solar power plants will:
· Produce over 5,433,000 kWh of electricity in the first year of operation and produce over 150,786,000 kWh of electricity over the next 30 years.
· Produce enough clean electricity to satisfy 100 percent of Stuttgart governmental operations’ electricity consumption
· Contain over 7,000 solar modules
· Utilize a ground mounted single-axis tracking system
· Reduce carbon emissions by over 106,600 metric tons which is the equivalent of: driving over 260 million fewer passenger car miles or eliminating the burning of over 116 million pounds of coal or providing over 18,000 homes electricity for one year.
