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    EDP Renewables Introduces 175 MW Crooked Lake Solar Park in Arkansas to Support State Electric Grid

    May 31, 2024
    The project will disburse an estimated $106.2 million to local landowners, pay an estimated $12.4 million in taxes to local governments throughout the project’s life
    EDP Renewables
    6659da7e7906b432616ff417 Edp Renewables

    EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA), a US renewable energy developer, has launched its 175 MW Crooked Lake Solar Park near Blytheville in Mississippi County, Arkansas. 

    The project, built on land leased from local landowners, will not only generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 30,000 Arkansas homes each year but also directly support Arkansas’ electric grid. It will support more than 330 construction jobs and six permanent jobs for the ongoing operations and routine maintenance of the project. 

    “We’re proud to continue our expansion in the South with a focus on serving the clean energy needs of Arkansas,” stated Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of EDP Renewables North America. “By providing sustainable energy to Mississippi County and the surrounding area, we are generating economic growth and grid stability for generations to come in the region.”

    The project will disburse an estimated $106.2 million to local landowners, pay an estimated $12.4 million in taxes to local governments throughout the project’s life, and invest in the local economy over the next several decades. It will also save more than 222 million gallons of water each year, which would have been consumed by conventional generation sources for equivalent energy capacity.

    The construction of the project helped educate K-12 students at Armorel School District and Blytheville School District on the benefits of wind and solar through school visits and science-related challenges organized in partnership with KidWind. 

    Moreover, the project team, with groups like 4H and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, volunteered and donated to several organizations revitalizing Blytheville and broader Mississippi County, including the Adopt a Block Initiative and Mississippi County Union Mission.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.