D.E. Neither of those companies were the original developer of the project. There was a problem saving your notification. Currently, about 60% of Entergy Louisianas power comes from natural gas plants. The disruption of Russian gas to Europe has raised prices, encouraging developers and fueling the buildout along the Gulf. Shaw's projects are Iris Solar, 50 megawatts for $75 million, and Sunlight Road Solar, 50 megawatts for $56 million, both near Franklinton. AEP remains focused on adding approximately 16 gigawatts of regulated renewables to our generation portfolio by 2030 and reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.. Each project would support a range of 160 to 300 construction jobs, developers said. DESRI has executed a 20-year Renewable Energy Purchase Agreement (REPA) with SWEPCO to support the utilitys growing renewable energy portfolio and help power local customers electricity needs. The latest plans roughly double the number of solar power projects planned in Louisiana to more than a dozen. New Orleans plummets, Baton Rouge hits bottom of national clean energy rankings. The startup "identified the sites best suited to host a solar project" for the unidentified customer and is "actively working with this partner to develop a utility-scale solar project," according to its website. The new and previously disclosed projects would cover tens of thousands of acres of largely farm and timber land, leased from landowners. Shaw's projects were initiated by and acquired from other developers. Shaw Renewable Investments, supplies power to Entergy New Orleans. You have permission to edit this article. All rights reserved. You have permission to edit this article. Rocking R is expected to deliver significant community benefits, including the creation of construction jobs. 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. Lafayette Utilities System is seeking to diversify its power sources into renewable energy by purchasing up to 300 megawatts of solar power. John Bel Edwards' climate initiative calls for a vast "decarbonization" of Louisiana's industrial sector which contributes about 62% of Louisiana's greenhouse gases powering boilers and other equipment and sees the push toward renewable power as one of the ways to drive the state to "net-zero" carbon emissions by 2050. Shaw Investments, which has emerged as the developer of seven of Louisiana's 16 proposed large-scale solar farms. 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. 2023 Thibodaux Solar is not yet registered in Louisiana but is in Delaware, incorporated in mid-June this year as a shell business. Power from those farms would go to Entergy Louisiana,which supplies power to St. James, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and many other parts of the state. In Washington Parish, local officials said they adopted their own solar farm ordinance, triggering the end of a year-and-a-half-old moratorium. Wind projects create an average of 0.9 jobs/MW (50 projects/7,125 megawatts), and Louisiana (49 projects/6,714 megawatts). Hesaid the number of commercial-scalesolar farms is greatly limited by the capacity of the electrical grid to handle them. Copyright 2023 WTWH Media, LLC. Washington D.C.-area technology startup Helios Infrastructure is a joint venture between Sol Systems and Ohio giant Nationwide Insurance. 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. All Rights Reserved. There is a seventh solar project on the books not yet seeking incentives. Required fields are marked *. It would support 250 jobs and one job once built by June 2024. Observers and analysts say the solar farms are being driven into rural Louisiana because of the simple economics of cheaper power and the broader drive to stem climate change, which a United Nations panel said in February would amount to an existential threat to south Louisiana over the next half century. The publicly traded utility that serves 1.3 million customers in the state has pledged to becarbon neutralby 2050. As the number of solar projects continues to grow in Louisiana, a chief concern among Louisiana taxpayers is ensuring that these projects are properly decommissioning upon their abandonment. Amid public opposition, the parish Planning Commission denied them in May. The project is expected to generate between $30 million and $40 million in property taxes over its 30-year lifespan, and would create 300 to 500 temporary construction jobs and three to four full-time jobs. DESRI will be the long-term owner and operator. 2023 www.thenewsstar.com. If so, couldnt this be raised to allow harvesting them? Published: Nov. 9, 2021 at 3:01 PM PST. I am confident that it will provide reliable and inexpensive power to these Louisiana co-ops for years to come.. That's being driven by environmental, social and corporate governance initiatives that institutional investors have embraced and by customer demand, he said.. Add to that, more than 100 megawatts of electricity already being generated from privately-owned solar panels sitting on the rooftops of individual residences or on commercial buildings. "Solar projects represent an excellent community development opportunity for our rural parishes. 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. Nearly 1 In 3 Homes In Australia Covered In Solar Panels, In Ultrathin Layers, NREL Researchers Find A Path To Better Materials, Solar Installation Growth Expected to Reach 700 GW by 2025, Green Hydrogen Project Is New Worlds Biggest, Utility-Scale Wind, Solar PV, & Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Increased From 467 MW In 2013 To 6,230 MW In 2022 In South Africa, Energy Security Amid Heightened Global Tensions. Two solar farms are near completion in St. James Parish by D.E. Bogalusa West PV I LLC seeks to spend $200 million on a 200-megawatt solar project in Bogalusa, near La. While natural gas remains the dominant power source in the state, with nuclear, coal and hydroelectric trailing far behind, solar is inching into play in a movement toward diversifying power sources and bolstering renewable energy to replace aging facilities and particularly coal to reduce emissions and fight climate change. Five of D.E. Galehead boasted one project with a "Southeastern U.S.-based landowner who owns approximately 400,000 acres across 500 distinct parcels spanning four states." This investment is another key step in SWEPCOs efforts to secure renewable, affordable energy and achieve a more balanced fuel mix, says Nicholas K. Akins, AEPs chairman, president and CEO. Entergy, which has been mostly interested in solar farms in southeast Louisiana, is one of Louisianas utilities that have been looking to buy renewable energy. 3127 in Vacherie. 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 cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. The cost of decommissioning is born by the developer.". Tangipahoa, Washington, West Baton Rouge, Pointe Coupee, Calcasieu, Lafourche, Morehouse and many other parishes have been targeted for solar installations supplying utilities, eBay, McDonald's and other electricity buyers. "It's a huge ag industry. Rocking R is part of DESRIs growing portfolio of solar facilities in Louisiana, bringing the total contracted portfolio size to over 500 MW in the state. The retail giant has sought more access to renewable energy in the state, which has been a factor pushing the Cleco and Entergy moves forward. https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/10/06/hurricane-resistant-solar-and-energy-storage-microgrid-to-be-built-in-puerto-rico/#respond, Court rules that inverter sizing guides grid connection, Retaining value for solar customers under California NEM 3.0 rule change, California pulls the plug on rooftop solar, U.S. Some parishes have sought more control over solar project development, even going so far as to issue moratoriums on incentives and require special permitting.. The legislation passed. Bob Marshall: Could solar panels keep the lights on after a hurricane? Washington Parish officials are looking at infrastructure and recreation with the new money, Parish Council member Carley King said. News item from D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments. Amazon is planning solar farms in St. Landry and Morehouse parishes as part of the online giants efforts to be entirely dependent on renewable energy by 2025. 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. However, The Advocate noted that it is still negotiating a deal. This information came from an advance notification filed with Louisianas economic development office. 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. They also want to find more consistent and relatively cheap prices for power as a hedge against the fluctuations of fossil fuel-based electricity, these watchers say. Some also called into question the local officials authority to grant the specific type of zoning exemption that was granted. Please be mindful of our community standards. Officials in rural Louisiana grapple with 'going solar' as utilities, industry drive demand. The Prairie Ronde Solar project is expected to generate 327,000-megawatt hours, the average annual electricity consumption of 30,700 US homes. THIBODAUX SOLAR: The Bayou region's first utility solar array, Thibodaux Solar Project, also known as Sunbeam 2, is proposed in Lafourche Parish. Thats right, Louisianas politicians who are owned by the fossil fuel industry suspended financial incentives for utility-scale solar projects. 21 and Parish Road 88. Louisianas first utility-scale solar farm, which is 50 megawatts, is in West Baton Rouge Parish and is being connected to the power grid under a 20-year power supply contract with Entergy, which has two open requests for proposals. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com. Like any other industrial project, it's possible that not all the projects will be constructed. Several Louisiana utilities have shown interest in solar. So would a $145 million project proposed in Singer. "LED recognizes that many of our rural communities are valuable agricultural centers. Parish officials hope to create new land use rules for the solar facilities. 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. Cleco and Lafayette Utilities System are also in the market for renewable energy. Rural residents have complained the solar farms are unsightly. 3127 in Vacherie. The Rocking R Solar Project will be a 72.5-MWAC facility in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, which is anticipated to come online in late 2024. The Chalkley Solar Project has raised the ire of Calcasieu Parish who are worried about the projects size, appearance, and environmental impact. "Because with solar, you want to get the biggest bang for your buck, so to speak, like you do with anything in life, but there's not big places in the country where you're going to get big chunks of land that you can dedicate to big solar projects like this and so that's why it's so attractive," Dismukes said. The solar arrays are massive, with hundreds of thousands of individual panels collecting sunlight to generate electricity sent to the power grid. St. Jacques Solar LLC is proposing a 120-megawatt solar project in Vacherie, looking to spend $134 million supporting 300 construction jobs and one position once done in 2024. ", The statement said the states Board of Commerce and Industry, which oversees incentives, "will respectfully and fairly consider the expansion of solar power as part of its objective to help grow and retain jobs in Louisiana. . "I think there's a point to where, you know, you don't want to have this just all over the parish and every time you turn around, you're seeing a solar farm," King said. Currently, about 60% of Entergy Louisiana's power comes from natural gas plants. D.E. Email David J. Mitchell at dmitchell@theadvocate.com. 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. "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.". Commissioner Foster Campbell, North Louisiana representative on the LPSC, said the Bayou Galion Solar Project will generate 98 megawatts of clean, renewable The Morehouse facility would open in 2023, while the St. Landry site is planned to be online by 2024.. Who's getting the real benefit of these solar panels," he added. Bayou Galion by itself will generate enough power to supply more than 20,000 homes. Shaws Louisiana projects are among a much larger nationwide portfolio 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. 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.. 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. Solar developers take on module manufacturing risk. SWEPCO is seeking approval from regulators in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas to acquire the 200 MW Mooringsport solar project in Caddo Parish, La. 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. All Rights Reserved. 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. Mostly through subsidiary Entergy Louisiana, Entergy has reached power agreements for the more than 4,200 acres of solar projects built or proposed in St. James. When it comes to the Dieselgate Settlement, the most well-known outcome (at least among EV enthusiasts and investors) is probably Electrify America. Since Entergy announced it would be buying solar power, the demand for solar farms has increased. Who owns all these solar 'farms' across Louisiana? "It's about striking a balance. Shaw's projects near completion. New York City-based D.E. SWEPCO and sister company Public Service Company of Oklahoma also own and operate the 1,484 MW North Central Energy Facilities in north central Oklahoma. Mostly through subsidiary Entergy Louisiana, Entergy has reached power agreements for the more than 4,200 acres of solar projects built or proposed in St. James. Near Vacherie would be St. James Solar, 20 megawatts for $30 million; St. James Solar II, for which further information was not available; St. James Solar III, 90 megawatts for $100 million, Vacherie Solar Energy Center LLC, 80 megawatts for $89 million; and St. Jacques Solar, 120 megawatts for $134 million. Shaw Investments are under construction: the Iris project in Washington Parish on LSU AgCenter property and in St. James Parish totaling another 70 megawatts of solar power for the grid in 2021. D.E. Meanwhile, institutional investors are eager to snap up market share for their investment portfolios to meet sustainability commitments. EDP RENEWABLES:A U.S. subsidiary of Portuguese electric utilities giant Energias de Portugal is behind a $78.5 million solar project in Morehouse Parish near Bastrop. Shaw's hedge fund is known among those in California's Silicon Valley and has prominent investors but is managed by an external board of executives. "Solar is no longer experimental," the utility told the state Public Service Commission last month. David Dismukes, executive director of the LSU Center for Energy Studies, said solar developers are so interested in the Gulf South because in other parts of the nation where the regulatory push for renewables has been stronger and earlier, large pieces of land are less available. The farm, owned by the hedge fund D.E. 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. Power from those farms would go to Entergy Louisiana, which supplies power to St. James, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and many other parts of the state. 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. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Capital Region Solar is a planned 50-MW facility being built in West Baton Over the next three years, there could be enough solar-generated electricity in Louisiana to power 60,000 homes in a state rich with oil and gas and crisscrossed with pipelines. There was a problem saving your notification. Hold Ctrl or Cmd to select multiple editions. Johnna owns less than one share of $TSLA currently and supports Tesla's mission. We also offer comprehensive global coverage of the most important solar markets worldwide. The 50-megawatt (MW) system is located in West Baton Rouge Parish, and it is now owned and operated by Helios. Information on the projects was contained in documents seeking state economic incentives through the Industrial Tax Exemption Program for manufacturers, which could mean an 80% property tax abatement for up to 10 years on the projects if approved by the school boards, sheriffs and councils in those parishes. Shaw's projects are in St. James Parish; its other two are in Washington Parish. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Said they adopted their own solar farm ordinance, triggering the end of a year-and-a-half-old moratorium that it still... Owned by the capacity of the electrical grid to handle them reuse louisiana solar projects our... ( 50 projects/7,125 megawatts ), and Louisiana ( 49 projects/6,714 megawatts ), and website in this browser the... Development office 's mission, appearance, and it is now owned and operated Helios! 50-Megawatt ( MW ) System is seeking to diversify its power sources into renewable by! 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