Construction completed on two of city’s solar power plants; third awaits approval

The City of Forrest City and Scenic Hill Solar have completed construction of two solar power plant sites in Forrest City in December. The public private partnership to provide electricity to the city was first announced a year ago in December, 2019.

The two solar power plants total 2.6 MW DC of capacity, large enough to produce approximately 74 percent of the electricity for Forrest City government and municipal operations in both Woodruff Electric Cooperative and Entergy Arkansas service territories.

A third power plant will be constructed in 2021 to generate the remainder of the city’s electricity following Arkansas Public Service Commission approval. A public ribboncutting and dedication ceremony will be announced in the coming months as weather permits.

“We’re very proud to have completed construction on this cutting- edge venture for our Forrest City and the entire community,” said Forrest City Mayor Cedric Williams. “The generation of electricity by these power plants is a tangible example of our efforts to invest in sustainable growth opportunities for our future. The fact that this occurred in the most challenging year in memory is further demonstration of our resolve. Combined with our energy saving measures implemented earlier this year, we have become more efficient with our citizens’ tax dollars, and we will continue this progress in 2021. We are excited to put renewable energy to work in Forrest City and to transform the way we power our community.”

“We are delighted by what our partnership with Forrest City achieved in 2020,” said Bill

Halter, CEO of Scenic Hill Solar. “These two solar power plants will provide a majority of the electricity for Forrest City’s governmental operations. After approval by the Arkansas Public Service Commission, our partnership will continue in 2021 and a third solar power plant will be built and bring Forrest City to 100 percent clean electricity for its government operations.

“We commend Mayor Williams and the city council of Forrest City for their vision for a cleaner and brighter future especially after being hit hard by the Covid- 19 pandemic. We believe this historic accomplishment makes Forrest City the first municipality in Arkansas to accomplish commercial operation of solar power plants in two utility service territories. We look forward to dedicating these two

power plants alongside the mayor, the council and the Forrest City Community.”

According to the press release, the two solar power plants, totaling 2.6 MW, will:

• Produce over 4,420,000 kWh of electricity in the first year of operation and over 74,739,402 kWh of electricity over the next 30 years.

• Produce enough clean electricity to satisfy 74 percent of Forrest City governmental operations’ electricity consumption.

• Contain over 6500 solar modules.

• Utilize two ground-mounted single- axis tracking solar systems.

• Reduce carbon emissions by over 52,844 metric tons which is the equivalent of: driving over 131 million fewer passenger car miles or eliminating the burning of over 58 million pounds of coal or providing over 8,947 homes electricity for one year.

Katie West • Times-Herald Police officers are charged with protecting and serving the public, even when they may not be aware of how protective they’re being. As members of the Forrest City Police Department were being recognized at a council meeting for their work and dedication over the past year, little Lauryn Wright, daughter of Officer Willie Wright, found her way into the middle of their group. These officers, who were hired in recent months, from left, are: Officer Wright, Officer Kevin Hollingsworth, Officer Jake Powers, Officer Carl Cannon and Officer Michael Coleman. More pictures from the ceremony, recognizing both the police and fire departments, can be found on Page 6 of today’s Times-Herald.