Lightsource bp and Conway Corp announced the successful completion of the 135-megawatt Conway Solar at Happy project in White County, Arkansas.
The solar farm will deliver clean energy to Conway Corp under a power purchase agreement with Lightsource bp. Conway Solar is projected to generate enough clean energy to power 21,000 homes.
Lightsource bp developed, financed, constructed, and will operate the project, a $125 million private capital investment in new energy infrastructure for Arkansas.
Working with the Arkansas Monarch Conservation Partnership, Lightsource bp and Conway Corp have established a five-acre native pollinator garden within the solar farm, featuring 46 varieties of Arkansas native plants. This garden is crucial in providing habitat and nectar for at-risk monarch butterflies and other pollinators that support our food supply.
The project uses 295,000 solar modules from Arizona-based First Solar, smart solar trackers from New Mexico-based Array Technologies, and steel from Attala Steel in Mississippi.
In 2021, Lightsource bp announced it was targeting 25 GW of solar by 2025. Earlier this year, the company said it closed on a $460 million multi-project financing package, which will support the construction and operation of a 368 MW portfolio that includes two utility-scale solar projects.
The 188 MW Honeysuckle Solar near South Bend, Indiana, has a long-term power purchase agreement with AEP Energy Partners. The 180 MW Prairie Ronde Solar northwest of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has a long-term power purchase agreement with McDonald’s Corp. Both projects are expected to enter service in 2024.
Nearly 800,000 solar panels manufactured by Arizona-based First Solar will be installed across both projects, along with smart solar trackers from New Mexico-based Array Technologies.
GO DEEPER: Lucy Bullock-Sieger, vice president of strategy for developer Lightstar Renewables, joined Episode 46 of the Factor This! podcast to discuss a new approach to agrivoltaics. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Pollinator-friendly solar farms
Approximately one-quarter of agricultural production in the United States depends upon pollinators, predominantly bees. Since 2006, bee population tracking has recorded declines of 30 percent annually. Loss of habitat is one reason the number of pollinators has decreased.
Where fields are cleared for large solar PV projects to be installed, it can be at the expense of pollinators, which depend on vegetation for habitat and food. Ground-mounted solar PV arrays can have a significant impact on pollinators, because ground-mounted systems are deployed directly into the soil, which can disturb pollinator habitat.
If this land is instead cultivated with appropriate vegetation, pollinator habitat can be preserved or created.
Several studies have shown that in areas where pollinator-friendly solar PV projects are deployed near agricultural lands that depend on pollinators, agricultural production may be intensified. Retaining the topsoil on a pollinator-friendly solar site is not as costly as removing it. When vegetation is planted under solar panels, it can absorb heat, lowering the temperature of the surrounding panels and increasing panel efficiency—resulting in more electricity production.
