EDP Renewables North America has announced the completion of the new Crooked Lake Solar Park near Blytheville in Mississippi County, Arkansas. The 175 MW project will generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 30,000 Arkansas homes annually.
Crooked Lake Solar Park will directly support Arkansas’ electric grid and is built on land leased by local landowners who recognize the benefits of hosting a solar project and believe in the economic impact it will have on the city and the greater province, complementing the area’s agricultural heritage.
Crooked Lake will support more than 330 construction jobs and six permanent jobs dedicated to the project’s ongoing operations and routine maintenance. It will disburse an estimated $106.2 million to local landowners, pay an estimated $12.4 million in taxes to local governments over the life of the project, and invest millions of dollars in the local economy over the coming decades.
“We are proud to continue our expansion in the South, with a focus on meeting Arkansas’ clean energy needs,” said Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of EDP Renewables North America. “By providing sustainable energy to Mississippi County and the surrounding area, we will generate economic growth and grid stability for the region for generations to come.”
Special attention was paid to STEM education and its impact on the local community, with construction of the project being used to educate K-12 students from the Armorel School District and Blytheville School District about the benefits of wind and solar energy through school visits and science-related challenges organized in partnership with KidWind. In addition, the project team – in addition to groups such as 4H and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated – has volunteered and donated to several organizations revitalizing Blytheville and the broader Mississippi County, including the Adopt a block initiative and Mississippi County Union Mission.
“We are grateful that EDPR NA is partnering with the City of Blytheville’s Quality of Life Division to take an active role in beautifying our city and uniting our community to do something positive. EDPR NA’s sponsorship in the Adopt a Block Initiative provided much-needed logistical support and supplies,” said Mayor Melisa Logan. “The team, through their support, has helped us highlight heroes who have taken the courageous step of adopting lockdowns in our community, which has had a real impact.”
The move to Arkansas marks EDPR NA’s continued growth into new state markets in the South, recently expanding its utility-scale operations in North Carolina and Mississippi, as well as its distributed generation footprint in states from Virginia and South Carolina to Florida and Louisiana. .
News item from EDPR
