Entergy Louisiana and D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) announced the start of commercial operations at Sunlight Road Solar, located in Washington Parish, Louisiana.
The 50 MW solar facility brings a significant increase in solar capacity to state that currently has just 629 MW installed or enough to power about 62,000 homes. The state is ranked 37th for solar installed, and it gets just 0.84% of its electricity from solar, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The Sunlight Road installation is expected to generate enough electricity to power approximately 11,500 homes.
Entergy Louisiana will be the sole offtaker, having signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The utility reports that it expects its customers to save approximately $22 million over the life of the PPA.
Hundreds of workers were employed on the project during construction. Other community benefits include full-time operations and maintenance workers, and approximately $1 million to $.5 million in sales tax paid directly to Washington Parish to support roads, schools and other local priorities. The solar farm is expected to pay about $10 million in local property taxes over its lifetime.
The facility includes more than 100,000 Canadian Solar modules mounted on Nevados single-axis trackers, and the site is using Sungrow inverters.
“This is a success story for the land as well as everyone who worked on this project,” said Jenya Meydbray, chief commercial officer of Nevados “We engineered our trackers from the ground up with adaptive joints that follow the landscape and eliminate grading. That way virtually all the topsoil can be kept in place for future generations and will grow native grass that maintains soil health. And that helps avoid runoff during and after construction, so it’s also a win for the watershed.
Sunlight Road Solar is the fourth solar resource Entergy Louisiana has added to its grid, and it plans to bring the nearly 50 MW Sterlington Solar facility online in 2026.
