Commissioner Foster Campbell, North Louisiana representative on the LPSC, said the Bayou Galion Solar Project will generate 98 megawatts of clean, renewable electricity on 1,080 acres near Mer Rouge. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. In the St. James community of Vacherie, two proposed solar projects, SJ Louisiana Solar and Vacherie Solar Energy Center, would cover 3,900 acres of west-bank sugar cane fields and add to an existing 210-acre complex known as St. James Solar. In February, SWEPCO announced plans to add 72.5 MW of solar energy through a power purchase agreement with the proposed Rocking R Solar project in northwest Louisiana. A lifelong sugar cane farmer in his first stint at politics, St. James Parish President Pete Dufresne has been an ardent backer of new industrial projects as needed job producers and tax revenue generators for his rural, blue-collar parish between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. This site uses cookies. The project has drawn significant opposition from locals, however with more than 1,000 names being presented in opposition at the zoning meeting. Some also called into question the local officials authority to grant the specific type of zoning exemption that was granted. Entergy Louisiana has already made its final decisions with undisclosed companies for the 300-megawatt proposal. These tax benefits would normally be touted by local officials. The solar farm has over 100,000 individual solar panels and is off of Rosedale Road. There was a problem saving your notification. Washington D.C.-area technology startup Helios Infrastructure is a joint venture between Sol Systems and Ohio giant Nationwide Insurance. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com. That solar movement in Louisiana, for now, is being driven by Entergy Louisiana as the purchaser of electricity through long-term contracts with companies that are building and operating solar farms. Features of the Beauregard Solar project: Photovoltaic (PV) solar arrays capable of generating up to 200 megawatts (MW) of clean, renewable energy. The firm is part of Recurrent Energy Development Holdings, a North American solar-power and energy-storage developer. The Sierra Club environmental group recently conducted a report that asserts it would be cheaper in the long-run to replace coal-fired power plants with utility-scale solar and wind projects in Louisiana. The solar and wind projects were identified through a competitive bidding process. The existing, smaller St. James Solar plant serves Entergy New Orleans to meet mandated renewable power goals in that city. Solar facilities also help diversify Louisianas electric generation sector. Some votes head to rural residents. Ventress Solar is proposed near New Roads and would span 2,732 acres. ; the 200.6 MW Diversion wind project in Baylor County, Texas; and the 598.4 MW Wagon Wheel wind project in Logan, Garfield and Noble counties, Okla. Invenergy is developing the three projects. At least one company, San Francisco-based Ecoplexus, has emerged as a potential bidder for two of the three solar farms: a $308 million project in Pride in East Feliciana Parish and $240 million project in Bueche, north of Port Allen, in West Baton Rouge Parish. That meeting marked the first time that the 23 representatives of industry, environmental groups, various state communities, state government officials and scientists met to create a greenhouse gas reduction strategy that would result in the state's emissions dropping by between 25% and 28% by 2025, and meet a "net zero" emissions goal by 2050. WebTo date, we operate solar projects in 27 states, and Tangipahoa will be one of the first solar projects in Louisiana. Shaw Renewable Investments, has two in Washington also,Iris Solar and Sunlight Road Solar, and is one of several firms eying farms across the state. The seven new proposed projects are: Kontiki Holdings LLC. EDP Renewables has been investing in its own projects but also buying equity stakes in other projects across the U.S., such as a deal for a portfolio worth $119 million for 89 megawatts from C2 Omega LLC, according to a deal announced in January. Solar projects like this are being developed all over the state and nation, and they are a critical new part of our countrys energy industry.. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. Shaw has signed deals with utilities such as Entergy New Orleans,but also with business customers such as Facebook for solar projects out West. At least one company, San Francisco-based Ecoplexus, has emerged as a potential bidder for two of the three solar farms: a $308 million project in Pride in East Both projects are expected to reach commercial operation in mid Pointe Coupee Parish President Major Thibaut has been through the approval of a large solar facility in Ventress, the worries from his parish's large agricultural base and the creation of an ordinance addressing some of those issues. Another big chunk comes from already carbon-free nuclear power, but the utility says it has been seeking solar developers since 2020 and hopes to have them to build 2,575 megawatts of solar power by 2025. Ecoplexus has deals with customers such as Fortune 500 companies Medtronic and Ecolab, in addition to privately held businesses like Andersen Windows and Doors. Created by, the average costs for installing solar in Louisiana. In St. James, the solar farms are popping up in a parish where, for several years, new petrochemical and oil storage facilities, like Formosa, Petroplex, Wanhua, South Louisiana Methanol and others, have been proposed in primarily Black communities, riling environmentalists and some residents. The hedge fund, also known as DESRI, is seeking to expand around the 210-acre farm by 3,900 more acres in the area with different investors. Only one of the 16 is operational so far, with two of D.E. Last year, legislators had directed the state Department of Natural Resources to create statewide rules for solar facilities, but this year, new legislation limited those efforts to ensuring solar farms set aside resources to remove solar panels once they are decommissioned. Kontiki was registered in Delaware as of August 2020 on behalf of Next Era, which is the publicly traded umbrella company for utilities such as Florida Power and Light, records show. New solar farm in West Baton Rouge with Entergy electricity contract sold; more under construction, Lafayette Utilities System trying to go green with solar energy push; seeking proposals, West Baton Rouge leaders pump brakes on solar farm construction to address resident complaints, With more solar farms in the works, West Baton Rouge leaders move to require permits, A reeling Louisiana oil and gas industry anticipates another setback: Loss of federal subsidies, Economic incentives unanimously approved for $410M ExxonMobil project, new $308M solar farm, New $98M solar farm pitched in Louisiana as utilities look to buy more renewable power, Louisiana businesses face reality of no new federal offshore leases anytime soon. 2023 www.thenewsstar.com. But Dufresne has taken a more cautious approach with the solar farms now seeking to set up on agricultural land, worried about eating up swaths of irreplaceable riverside land for solar complexes that produce few permanent jobs. Shaw Renewable estimates the first 2,100 acres of the new solar complexes in St. James would spur around 300 temporary construction jobs and around $14.4 million combined in initial sales tax collections and property tax collections over the next 10 years. Depcom Power, also based in Arizona, did the engineering, procurement and construction in addition to operations and maintenance for the solar project. "So you know before we just hurry up and jump up and approve all these things, we want to know what the long-term effect is going to be for St. James Parish," Dufresne said. Washington Parish officials are looking at infrastructure and recreation with the new money, Parish Council member Carley King said. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Science? "The calls for further evaluation by the Council is especially rich given how freely its members have allowed the petrochemical industry to expand in majority Black areas.". If you like what we do and want to support us, please chip in a bit monthly via, 70%, 80%, 99.9%, 100% Renewables Study Central, Clean tech and sustainability market research, Climate Change Solutions: Why 1.5C Is So Important, Electric Vehicle Sales Charts, Graphs, & Stats, Engage Global Competition: Technology for a Sustainable Future. Thibodaux Solar is owned by Kansas City, Missouri-based Savion Energy, which has more than 100 solar projects in various stages across 27 states. Shaw is planning $484 million of investment in Louisiana spread across six disclosed projects that are seeking economic incentives or already had them approved. Who's getting the real benefit of these solar panels," he added. Fact check:False claim that replacing cornfields with solar panels exacerbates climate change. But now he's. Along the Mississippi River, St. James' large tracts of agricultural land with roads, rail, pipeline and power have made the parish one of Louisiana's hot spots for industrial growth with the generally cheap natural gas prices of the past 10 to 15 years. How to build a hurricane proof solar unit. The developer of the solar farms in St. James, D.E. The project is being developed by San Francisco-based Lightsource Renewable Energy Development LLC, which is the renewable energy arm for BP. If you can lock in that long-term pricing then the customers have a better chance of receiving those benefits as opposed to shouldering those costs.". An estimated 300 people will be needed during the peak period of construction. The projects could support 1,000 construction jobs if built, but yield only two full-time positions once completed. "It's a low-impact, high-value project. This could power almost 21,000 homes. 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