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. The other such installation is the 345 MW Ventress Solar project, set to start construction by the end of this year and slated for completion in 2023. :Climate change denial on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok is as bad as ever. Required fields are marked *. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS, Washingtons largest solar project now connected to grid, McCarthy opens new craft workforce center to train current and future workers, Renewables increased energy output by more than 12% in 2022, NREL: Western RTO would decrease cost of clean energy production, transmission. Shaw's Louisiana projects are among a much larger nationwideportfolio controlled by the hedge fund producing more than 2,900 megawatts of power generated from the sun and more than 500 megawatts from wind, records show.. She also gardens, collects interesting minerals and can be found on TikTok. The new and previously disclosed projects would cover tens of thousands of acres of largely farm and timber land, leased from landowners. Bogalusa West PV I LLC seeks to spend $200 million on a 200-megawatt solar project in Bogalusa, near La. The Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) has approved a power purchase agreement for the 132 MW DC /98 MW AC Bayou Galion solar project developed by Recurrent Energy and located in Morehouse Parish in Northeast Louisiana. The developer of the solar farms in St. James, D.E. Cleco,Lafayette Utilities System and a number of electrical cooperatives, includingDEMCO, which operates in the Baton Rouge area, have signed deals for commercial-scale solar power or announced plans to do so. Proposed $200 million projects in Thibodaux and Bogalusa would produce up to 200 megawatts of power each. Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Energy Information Administration Louisiana State Profile, http://www.seia.org/research-resources/us-solar-market-insight, http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/#generation, http://www.thesolarfoundation.org/solar-jobs-census/states/, http://www.seia.org/research-resources/national-solar-database, http://www.seia.org/research-resources/major-solar-projects-list, https://www.seia.org/solar-means-business-report. In June, a new proposal process began and Entergy expects to start negotiations soon with companies interested in building three additional solar farms in West Baton Rouge, East Feliciana and Morehouse parishes, if power purchase contracts are awarded. Wind got a plug recently during the opening session of a Climate Initiatives Task Force appointed by Gov. 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 There was an intense competition of new and existing power options reviewed by the firm and the LPSC staff, he said. LSU baseball analytics: What technology, data do the Tigers use? ; the 200.6 To put that 600 megawatts into perspective, solar power would amount to just 3% of the utility and public power generation capacity in Louisiana if it were part of the current mix compared to natural gas, 70.9%; nuclear power, 11.3%; coal, 9.6%; petroleum coke and liquids, 4.9%; and hydroelectric and biomass, 0.3%. Since Entergy announced it would be buying solar power, the demand for solar farms has increased. The projects proposed in Vacherie would produce 120, 90 and 80 megawatts, with a 50-megawatt facility proposed for Franklinton. ), BidenHarris Administration Announces $74 Million to Advance Enhanced Geothermal Systems, In 2021, 20% Of Electricity In The US Was Generated From Renewable Sources, Stellantis Takes On Two Partners To Reduce EV Production Emissions, Guiding Principles For EV Battery Recycling Policy, NIO Builds Battery Factory, CATL Reacts, Lithium Prices Implode, Central Heat Pump Water Heaters Can Act As Massive Water Batteries, Seattle Pilot Project Shows, Li-Cycle Scores $375 Million DOE Battery Recycling Development Loan, A Conversation on the Latest and Greatest on Vanadium Batteries (Video), PG&E Will Test Tesla & Sonnen Virtual Power Plant Technology, Sonnen & TenneT Power German Grid With Electric Cars, 1st Virtual Power Plant from SolarEdge Supporting UK Grid, Google, Ford, GM, & Solar Companies Partner To Promote Scaling Of Virtual Power Plants, Vehicle-To-Grid Solutions Could Open Fast Lane To Net-Zero Future, Breaking Barriers to Home Electrification Through the EAS-E Prize, We Spend $850 a Year on Clean Energy for Our Home & Car (One Fifth the National Average). Gov. WebWe are planning to build, own and operate a privately funded $170 million renewable energy project that will deliver electricity into the local grid, helping with Louisianas energy independence and energy security. Fact check:False claim that replacing cornfields with solar panels exacerbates climate change. A smaller 50-megawatt project in Washington Parish, located on Sunlight Road in Franklinton would cost $56 million, support 200 construction jobs and one job once done in 2023. Kelsey is managing editor of Solar Power World and host of the Contractor's Corner podcast. Entergy Louisiana has already made its final decisions with undisclosed companies for the 300-megawatt proposal. Tim Sylvia was an editor at pv magazine USA. Other questions:subscriberservices@theadvocate.com. Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. That's enough to provide electricity for about 220,000 homes in Louisiana, according toestimatesfrom the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, and would constitute about a quarter of Entergy Louisiana's current total power production. Walmart, for example, has sustainability goals and a sizable footprint in Louisiana. "It's economics driven," said Richard E. Walsh, managing partner at Madison Energy Investments, a New York-based fund that invests in renewable energy projects such as solar. The company has developed and financed more than 75 projects in California, North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado and Minnesota, with more than $750 million in projects totaling 1 gigawatt around the world. They could be looking to add renewable power generation on their own often expansive landholdings, potentially adding a future wrinkle to the land use questions raised by solar sites. The project has drawn significant opposition from locals, however with more than 1,000 names being presented in opposition at the zoning meeting. LIGHTSOURCE: The single largest solar project proposed is for 300 megawatts in Pointe Coupee Parish. The state has approved all of the solar farms proposed for economic incentives so far. The Vacherie Solar Energy Center will be a 150 MW AC facility in St. James Parish in Louisiana. Tim covered project development, legal issues and renewable energy legislation, as well as contributed to the daily Morning Brief. Both projects are expected to reach commercial operation in mid 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. Savion Energy's Thibodaux project would be $200 million of investment for 200 megawatts of solar power. This could power almost 21,000 homes. The projects could support 1,000 construction jobs if built, but yield only two full-time positions once completed. State records show that previously undisclosed projects seeking economic incentives include three in the St. James Parish community of Vacherie and one each in Thibodaux, Bogalusa, Singer and Franklinton. The company estimates tax revenue for Beauregard Parish at $26 million over the "lifetime" of the project. "Solar projects represent an excellent community development opportunity for our rural parishes. Local elected leaders will direct these new tax revenues to meet their current or future needs," LED Secretary Don Pierson said in the statement. Businesses which rely on oil and gas activity off Louisiana's coast fear that fossil fuels could track a similar demise as the coal industry a, The climate task force created by Gov. Complete our National Solar Database Survey! "Even if the electricity were sold to an off-taker outside the state the economic benefits would stay in the parish," said Bryan Garner, director of communications for NextEra Energy Resources. We've already went through the dairy farms having to sell out and shut down. Solar developments on farm land are likely to be far less than 1% of Louisianas 7 million acres of land available for agriculture today. 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. The electricity produced for the Beauregard Solar project is being marketed to a variety of customers from industrial sites to utilities inside and outside Louisiana. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Hold Ctrl or Cmd to select multiple editions. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled. Mark Kleehammer, vice president of regulatory and public affairs for Entergy Louisiana, said it is Entergy's big industrial customers who are calling for the greater renewable power mix. Local governments have been left to balance those concerns against the rights of landowners seeking lucrative solar leasing arrangements and the demand from utilities and big users, including major industrial operations, for more renewable power. WebWashington, D.C. Today, Helios Infrastructure (Helios), a joint venture between Nationwide and Sol Systems, announced its acquisition of the largest solar power project in Louisiana. From raw materials straight through to end-user applications, we capture and analyze the critical details that help professionals stay current and navigate the solar market. Bayou Galion is hoping for an up to 80% property tax abatement for 10 years through Louisianas Industrial Tax Exemption Program. That's the most valuable real estate, accessible to rail and river, and it's just taking away so many opportunities that could be other clean projects, as well, you know, that could actually bring jobs, and that's what our concern is," Dufresne told a few solar, utility and media representatives after a recent Parish Council meeting. The seven new proposed projects are: Kontiki Holdings LLC. Commissioner Foster Campbell, North Louisiana representative on the LPSC, said the Bayou Galion Solar Project will generate 98 megawatts of clean, renewable Lightsource bp is developing the project, which will be located 30 miles northwest of Baton Rouge in Pointe Coupee Parish. Silicon Valley has been the main high tech and venture capital hub in the US for decades. Other questions:subscriberservices@theadvocate.com. Dufresne's and other local officials' concerns reflect the unease that has arisen among some in rural Louisiana over the proliferation of solar farms over thousands of acres agricultural land. "It's a low-impact, high-value project. The subsidiary serves the Mississippi River corridor, including St. James, metro Baton Rouge and much of Louisiana outside New Orleans. Overall, D.E. If utilities modernize the way they select the resources they run each day, they can save carbon and reduce energy prices. Shaw is planning $484 million of investment in Louisiana spread across six disclosed projects that are seeking economic incentives or already had them approved. The nearly 600 megawatts of electricity the Entergy-linked solar farms will generate for the power grid would match the production of one smaller-scale natural gas-fired power plant and be a small portion the power produced in the state. Instead, it's likely the new electricity generation cost, as with the addition of any other new capacity, would be added to monthly bills spread across all ratepayers. Who's getting the real benefit of these solar panels," he added. Here's a glance at the other proposed projects in the state and their developers: HELIOS INFRASTRUCTURE:Its 50 megawatt project cost $67 million to construct in West Baton Rouge Parish and is operational. There was a problem saving your notification. 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.. Two are already constructed in West Baton Rouge Parish and New Orleans East; two are under construction in Washington and St. James parishes; and three more were put out vying for a contract with Entergy for proposals in West Baton Rouge, East Feliciana and Morehouse parishes. The aesthetics of acres of reflecting panels, their hum as they track the sun, long-term cleanup, displacement of the agricultural economy and low long-term job potential have all emerged as worries, despite the short-term boost in construction jobs and sales tax collections and the long-term property tax rise over land under agricultural tax exemptions. One of Louisianas largest solar power projects ever is now under construction. D.E. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Bookmark, share and interact with the leading solar construction magazine today. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. You have permission to edit this article. If so, couldnt this be raised to allow harvesting them? It has also reached power agreements with the Iris Solar and Sunlight Road Solar complexes in Washington Parish, the Capitol Region Solar complex in West Baton Rouge and others. 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