LR directors OK developing of solar array

Facility expected to provide 70% of city’s electric needs

The Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday voted to proceed with the development of a 4.9-megawatt solar array.

City officials hope the facility will supply approximately 70% of the city’s electricity needs, putting the city closer to a goal of powering 100% of its operations and fleet using clean energy by 2030.

A resolution approved Tuesday authorizes the city manager to enter into a contract with a construction subsidiary of Scenic Hill Solar, known as Sun Hog Solar, LLC, once short- or long-term financing has been secured and approved by the city board.

The law firm Wright, Lindsey & Jennings has been retained as legal counsel for the project, the resolution stated, while the company NV5 has been retained for the “procurement, management, implementation and monitoring” aspects of the project.

At-large City Director Antwan Phillips is a partner at the law firm.

The measure was unanimously approved along with other items as part of the city board’s consent agenda Tuesday night.

The solar proposal is intended to allow the city to take advantage of the state’s current solar-energy rules — namely, a practice known as net-metering — with an eye to a deadline of Sept. 30, 2024, city board documents stated.

By that date, the city must have paid all costs associated with constructing the utility facilities necessary to connect the net-metering facility.

Act 278, which received Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ signature in March 2023, allowed electric utilities to credit solar users for the power they generate at lower, wholesale rates, unlike the previous 1:1 structure, in which users were credited at the same rate utilities charge residential and commercial customers.

Existing solar users and those with facilities pending by the end of September can be grandfathered in under the current net-metering structure, which will remain in place for them until 2040.

City officials expect

savings of $27 million to be achieved across 20 years if the deadline is met, according to documents.

The total cost of the project remains under negotiation with Sun Hog Solar, city board documents stated. Federal tax credits are expected to allow the city to recoup 40% of the cost of construction.

Under the anticipated arrangement with the solar provider, the city will buy the facility from Sun Hog Solar after its construction. Sun Hog Solar or another vendor is expected to operate and maintain the facility for at least 20 years.

Officials at Central Arkansas Water and Pulaski County have worked to bring solar arrays online in recent years.

Central Arkansas Water’s 4.8-megawatt array in Cabot went online in 2022 as a result of a partnership with Scenic Hill Solar.

And last year, Pulaski County’s 4.7-megawatt solar array near Zeuber Road in Little Rock went online after the completion in 2021 of a smaller, 250-kilowatt array near the county jail.