FORT SMITH — The implementation of solar energy — along with the expectation of cost savings — has been spreading through city and county facilities in the River Valley.
Greenwood held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 30 for the first of two solar power plants to be used for municipal buildings. The facility is on city-owned property at 606 Jayhawker Lane and supplies electricity for 98% of Greenwood government operations in the Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative service territory, according to the city. This includes the city’s Fire Station 2, Ed Wilkinson Community Pavilion and wastewater treatment plant and office.
Mayor Doug Kinslow expressed hope the second facility will be operational by spring. This will power City Hall, the police and fire departments and the water plant, as well as the shop buildings for the water, wastewater and street departments in the Southwestern Electric Power Co. service territory.
Tom Marsh, Greenwood’s finance director, said it’s estimated that these two plants combined will save the city more than $2 million over 30 years. Kinslow said the city will be able to reinvest this money in other things, in addition to reducing its carbon footprint.
“We don’t have a set plan of said power savings going toward streets or anything like that, but obviously, the less money you spend in paying utility bills, we have that much more money to operate,” Kinslow said.
Sebastian County also has been moving toward solar energy. A new solar array in Midland began operating Oct. 5, according to County Judge David Hudson, supplying energy for county buildings in Greenwood powered by Southwestern Electric Power Co., including the Greenwood Courthouse and the county Road Department and EMS facilities.
Hudson estimated that another solar energy site — in a rural, unincorporated area on Arkansas 22 near Lavaca — is nearly complete. It is expected to go live Jan. 21 and power county facilities — such as the Fort Smith Courthouse and the county courts building, in addition to the county’s properties at Ben Geren Park — in Fort Smith under Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.
McKinstry, a Seattle-based company with an office in Little Rock, is managing this project, Hudson said. The company guaranteed a cumulative net savings of $444,906 for the county from the project over 20 years.
“In evaluating the cost of electric bills supporting all of our properties versus the cost of implementing solar and reducing those costs, even with the expense of investing in the solar equipment in the solar option, financially, the county came out ahead by pursuing solar energy,” Hudson said. “It was a way to help operate county government more efficiently.”
This comes after Clarksville and Alma both developed solar power facilities within the past couple of years in collaboration with outside companies.
Bill Halter, chief executive officer of the Little Rock-based Scenic Hill Solar, said the two solar power plants his company built for Clarksville Connected Utilities are among the largest of …….
Source: https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2021/dec/26/greenwood-sebastian-county-develop-solar-power/?news