Entergy Arkansas acquired Walnut Bend from Invenergy , a leading privately held developer, owner, and operator of sustainable energy solutions. Invenergy led the development, engineering, and construction of the facility.
“Walnut Bend will be a valuable addition to our generation fleet, which, in turn, complements our diverse mix of generation sources that have been powering life in Arkansas for more than 100 years,” said Entergy Arkansas President and CEO Laura Landreaux. “Our investments in these generation resources are a key part of keeping the rates our customers pay below the regional and national averages and enabling us to provide reliable, affordable, and sustainable service to our customers throughout the state.”
“Walnut Bend is another example of Invenergy's successful track record of building clean energy solutions, and we are proud to support Entergy's growing solar power portfolio,” said Mick Baird, Chief Development Officer at Invenergy. “We are grateful to the Lee County community for their partnership, and we look forward to continuing to develop projects in Arkansas to meet the state's energy needs and invest in local communities.”
The Walnut Bend facility will generate an estimated $700,000 in annual property taxes for Lee County. It uses innovative technologies, including bifacial solar panels and racking equipment that tracks the sun. Bifacial panels capture sunlight on both sides of the panel, taking advantage of light reflecting off the ground, while the racking systems adjusts their tilt so that they follow the sun throughout the day, maximizing their energy production.
Walnut Bend is the fourth solar resource Entergy Arkansas has placed into service - all generating renewable, emission-free solar power for all Entergy Arkansas' customers. The others are the 81-megawatt Stuttgart Solar, the 100-megawatt Chico Solar at Lake Village and the 100-megawatt Searcy Solar. The four facilities combined will generate 381 megawatts of power for Entergy Arkansas customers. Total investment is more than $300 million, with net customer benefits of more than $170 million over the life of the facilities.
Later this year, Entergy Arkansas will bring 430 additional MW of solar power facilities online: West Memphis (180MW) and Driver (250 MW), which it will own and operate. Two additional solar facilities are planned to come online in 2025: Flat Fork (200 MW) and Forgeview (200 MW), which will provide energy and capacity to Entergy Arkansas via long-term power purchase agreements.
