100 Acre Solar Farm to be Built in South Arkansas

It's a partnership that is bringing together several different groups, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Southern Arkansas University- Tech, and Ouachita Electric Cooperative, all for one goal… to find different options for renewable energy and distributive energy. "We were looking at different options, like I say for different types of renewable energy, and distributive energy. The solar project came to our attention especially looking at Aerojet Rocketdyne's existing settlement, we got in touch, after Aerojet Rocketdynegot in touch with a company called Silicon Ranch, they develop solar farms and specialize solar farms in the south," says Mark Cayce, Ouachita Electric Cooperative Corporation, General Manager. When it’s up and running, the solar farm will have a big impact on energy prices for the region. "It provides us a clean energy which is important from an environmental stand point, but it also provides a known and steady supply of energy at a known price,” says Gary W. Vaughan, Director of Camden Operations. Officials say using the solar farm will greatly reduce the co-2 footprint in the state. "The reduction in the CO-2 footprint in the state will definitely be assisted by this project, greatly assisted I would say, because the energy that would have been either produced with coal, or natural gas will be produced with solar power, and there for your c0-2 footprint will be reduced," says Corbet Lamkin, Chancellor of SAU-Tech. This 12-megawatt solar farm will be the largest solar farm in the state. Being the technology driven company that Aerojet Rocketdyne is, everything seems to fit right into place.