The Mississippi Delta will soon be home to the largest utility-owned solar farm in the state, after receiving approval from the Mississippi Public Service Commission.

Canadian Solar subsidiary Recurrent Energy will build the 100-MW project on behalf of Entergy Mississippi. The project should be complete by no later than mid-2022. Once built, Entergy will assume ownership for the life of the facility. The emissions-free, renewable energy plant will sit on approximately 1,000 acres in Sunflower County and will connect to Entergy’s transmission grid in Ruleville.

“We’re happy to have commission approval to move forward,” said Haley Fisackerly, Entergy Mississippi president and CEO. “The Sunflower Solar Facility will be key in helping us meet changing customer expectations. It will give us more sustainable ways to meet our customers’ energy needs while diversifying our fuel supply.”

The project will use single-axis tracking with 350,000 Canadian Solar panels.

“We would like to thank the Commission for its approval of this build-and-transfer agreement that will allow us to move ahead with the Sunflower project,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. “This agreement with Entergy is another milestone that underscores Recurrent Energy’s leadership position in the U.S. solar development space. We are proud to do our part to expand the use of clean renewable energy from the sun in Mississippi, and to advance the goal of building an environmentally-friendly, low-carbon future.”  

In 2016, Entergy Mississippi began studying solar as a renewable energy source. That year, the company built the state’s first-ever utility-owned solar project. The pilot project consisted of three sites in Brookhaven, Hinds and DeSoto counties. These sites helped answer questions about how solar would perform in Mississippi’s varied geographical regions. The project was the genesis for the Sunflower Solar facility.

News item from Entergy Corporation