Entergy Mississippi to bring Sunflower Solar Station online

05/26/2022

State’s largest utility-owned solar project will provide clean, renewable energy and an economic advantage

JACKSON, Miss. – Construction is complete on a 100-megawatt renewable solar power station near Ruleville in the Mississippi Delta, providing clean energy to Entergy Mississippi’s 461,000 customers. The Sunflower Solar Station is the largest utility-owned solar installation in Mississippi and provides enough energy to power 16,000 homes.

“It’s a historic day for Entergy Mississippi, our customers and our state,” said Haley Fisackerly, Entergy Mississippi president and CEO. “Powering communities is the heart of our business, and this power station will do that in several ways—by providing clean, green power to customers and a hedge against rising natural gas prices, and giving industries with renewable energy goals an incentive to locate or expand operations in our state.”

The solar station is also the first plant in what will be the largest expansion of renewable power in the state’s history. Under a program called EDGE, for “Economic Development with Green Energy,” the company plans to replace some aging natural gas plants with 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy over the next five years.

Recurrent Energy, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar, Inc., developed and built the Sunflower Solar Station for Entergy Mississippi, which will own it for the life of the facility. Sunflower is one of the first utility-scale solar projects to be constructed under a Build Transfer Agreement in the United States. Recurrent Energy signed a BTA with Entergy Mississippi in 2018 designating the regulated utility to own the Sunflower Solar project when it reached commercial operation. The BTA was approved unanimously by the Mississippi Public Service Commission in April 2020.

The Sunflower Solar Station employed Mississippi vendors and construction workers. Attala Steel Industries, based in Kosciusko, supplied 2,475 tons of steel for foundations. Additionally, A-1 Kendrick Fence Company, based in Jackson, installed the perimeter fence. More than half of the labor hours spent on the project’s construction were from workers local to the area and surrounding counties. Signal Energy LLC served as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction provider.

“We are proud to have commissioned the largest utility-owned solar project in Mississippi on behalf of Entergy in a way that has supported Mississippi businesses and paved the way for more renewable energy in the state,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Office of Canadian Solar. “Sunflower is our first build-own-transfer project and our first project in Mississippi. We look forward to supporting the growth of solar throughout the southeast United States, and repeating this model which provides additional value for our customers.”

The emissions-free, renewable energy plant sits on approximately 1,000 acres in Sunflower County and connects to Entergy’s transmission grid in Ruleville. The plant is a single axis tracking photovoltaic power generator with 272,000 PV modules.

In 2021, Entergy Corporation announced plans to triple its renewable energy portfolio over a three-year period. The company expects to have 11,000 megawatts of renewable energy generation by the end of 2030. The Sunflower Solar Station is another milestone in our continued transformation of our power generation portfolio, meeting customers’ needs with clean, efficient and diverse sources of electricity while maintaining affordable rates. Learn more about our renewable energy generation growth at entergy.com/renewable-energy.

About Entergy Mississippi

Entergy Mississippi, LLC provides electricity to approximately 461,000 customers in 45 counties. Entergy Mississippi is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation, an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, Entergy has annual revenues of $10 billion and approximately 12,500 employees.

About Canadian Solar Inc.
Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world’s largest solar technology and renewable energy companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions, and developer of utility-scale solar power and battery storage projects with a geographically diversified pipeline in various stages of development. Over the past 19 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 52 GW of premium-quality, solar photovoltaic modules to customers in over 150 countries. Likewise, since entering the project development business in 2010, Canadian Solar has developed, built, and connected over 5.7 GWp in over 20 countries across the world. Currently, the Company has around 500 MWp of projects in operation, over 5 GWp of projects under construction or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional 14 GWp of projects in pipeline (mid- to early- stage). Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar and renewable energy industry, having been publicly listed on the NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the Company, follow Canadian Solar on LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.

About Recurrent Energy (Canadian Solar Subsidiary)
Recurrent Energy is a leading utility-scale solar and storage project developer, delivering competitive, clean electricity to large energy buyers. Based in the U.S., Recurrent Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. and functions as Canadian Solar’s U.S. project development arm. Recurrent Energy has approximately 5 GW of solar and storage projects in development in the U.S. Additional details are available at www.recurrentenergy.com.