GROUNDBREAKING SOLAR/ STORAGE PROJECT IN ARKANSAS

Source: RE Magazine Project Profiles

Ozarks Electric Cooperative, Today’s Power, Inc., and the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, have broke ground on a groundbreaking project: the state’s largest solar power system on municipal land and the only one with onsite utility-scale storage.

The project, designed by Today’s Power at Ozarks Electric’s request, consists of three separate systems at two locations — the city’s water treatment facilities—with a total capacity of 10 MW of solar generation and 24 MWh of battery storage.

When the electricity generated by the solar arrays exceeds demand, it will be net metered to the Ozarks Elec­tric system or saved in the on-site battery storage systems.

Under the arrangement, Ozarks Electric will upgrade and maintain existing electricity connections at the sites, and while Today’s Power will own 99 percent of the solar systems “100 percent of the storage systems and will operate both, “this project is an example of how utilities and large­ scale power consumers can meet the needs of the future through innovation and partnership,” says Mitchell Johnson, president and CEO of Ozarks Electric.