Renewable

Increasingly, the state of Arkansas and its electricity generating utilities are building renewable energy into their portfolios. Currently, Arkansas is, as a state, just about last in renewable energy adoption. The Natural State is poised for a natural revolution.

Oklahoma Wind Power Project To Be Biggest In Nation, Push Supply To Arkansas, Texas And Louisiana

By • Oct 10, 2017
Invenergy

A public-private partnership is pushing ahead with plans to build the nation's largest wind farm — the second largest in the world — in western Oklahoma.

The Wind Catcher Energy Connection Project is a collaborative venture by Invenergy, a global renewable energy design firm based in Chicago, Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) and Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) which serves three states, including western Arkansas.

The wind project, scheduled to go on line in late 2020, will yield low-cost clean power as well as jobs.

In Utilities Versus Private Generators, Electricity Credits May Lose Power

By Bobby Ampezzan • Sep 15, 2017
OECC

For interested onlookers like Arkansas Energy Office program manager Chet Howland, the filing today by the Net Metering Working Group is a not-unexpected, slight disappointment.

The group is the creation of the Public Service Commission (at the request of the General Assembly) to examine net metering: the practice of pushing the electricity generated by windmills or solar power systems back onto the grid, and getting credit for it from energy utilities.

Clarksville Solar Facility Showcases Energy Independence, Showdown With Big Electric

By Bobby Ampezzan • Jul 20, 2017
Bobby Ampezzan / ARKANSAS PUBLIC MEDIA

CLARKSVILLE — Before a gathering of Rotarians enjoying corn on the cob and barbecue pork, inside a cool room at the University of the Ozarks, the state’s former lieutenant governor and the city’s utilities manager explain the prescience of a 20,000-module solar array in 20 slides.

 

It's a roughly $10 million investment, or about what the city itself spends in just eight months for power, since it doesn’t generate any itself, according to the manager, John Lester.

Private Energy Generation Pulls In A Crowd At Public Service Commission

By Bobby Ampezzan • Oct 5, 2016

The Arkansas Public Service Commission hosted a day-long public hearing Tuesday on net metering, the industry term for people and businesses who generate their own electricity, typically through photovoltaic solar systems, and push that power back onto transmission lines.

Small Energy Producers May Pay For Grid Access As State's 'Net Metering' Rules Get Review

By • Oct 3, 2016

Carroll County resident Pat Costner walks under her three solar arrays this warm autumn afternoon to a shed where she keeps a collection of heavy-duty batteries.

“They’re fully charged right now,” she says, gesturing at the noontime sun above our heads.

The retired Greenpeace senior scientist operates a grid-tied solar energy system with an unusual electrical utility meter.

“It tells me if I am buying or selling,” she says. “Today is a selling day.”

Bringing Up Arkansas's 'F' In Solar

By Bobby Ampezzan • Aug 1, 2016
OECC

Futurists have long foretold of two energy “unicorns,” sources that are as abundant and non-polluting as they are competitive in the marketplace. The dreamier of these is nuclear fusion, fuel to the stars! It chews up abundant hydrogen — that’s nine out of every 10 atoms in the galaxy — and spits out helium, the stuff of party balloons.