Entergy Arkansas to offer solar tariff

Entergy Arkansas is launching a solar tariff to allow customers to subscribe to blocks of the Stuttgart Solar generating facility and future solar generating resources.

Entergy Arkansas purchases 81 MW of solar energy from Stuttgart Solar and will purchase another 100 MW of solar energy from Chicot Solar project when the plant opens in 2020.

“As the state’s largest solar provider, we want to make all of the benefits of utility-scale solar power available to our customers who have particular energy and sustainability goals,” Kurt Castleberry, director of resource planning for Entergy Arkansas, said. “We know there are business and industrial customers who have renewable energy requirements or goals. This is a cost-effective way for them to meet those without the need for upfront capital investment. Some residential customers would like to offset their carbon footprint, as well, but do not have the land space for solar panels or the desire to maintain solar equipment.”

Subscriptions to the tariff are on a first come, first served basis with customers entering into a one-year agreement. Residential customers can subscribe in 1 kW blocks, with a maximum of 5 kW of capacity per customer. Small general service customers can subscribe to 5 kW blocks while large general service customers can subscribe to 100 kW blocks.

“This is just the beginning of possible options for customers,” Laura Landreaux, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas, said. “The Chicot Solar facility will come online later this year. The Searcy Solar facility will come online in two years, pending commission approval. We have more renewable projects under consideration. All of this means that we will have more options for customers and can be more flexible as an energy partner. We’re looking forward to all that is coming.”

Customers get certification that the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) that are associated with the amount of energy that a customer subscribes to will be retired on the customer’s behalf. So, if there are cloudy days and other limiting factors, a customer subscribed to what amounted to 5 percent of the facility would receive certification that RECs were retired for five percent of the actual production from the facility.

“Our customers have new and expanding expectations of what they want from their utility,” Castleberry said. “We are modernizing our grid along with the services we offer so we can meet those expectations.”