Canadian Solar Completes 100MW Solar Power Plant for Entergy Mississippi

Guelph-based renewable energy company Canadian Solar announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Recurrent Energy has successfully completed the construction of a 100-megawatt renewable solar power plant near Ruleville in the Mississippi Delta, providing clean energy to Entergy Mississippi's 461,000 customers. Recurrent Energy developed and built the Sunflower Solar Station for Entergy Mississippi, which will own it for the life of the facility.

The project is the first plant in the largest expansion of renewable power in the state's history. Coming under the "Economic Development with Green Energy" EDGE program, Entergy Mississippi intends to replace some aging natural gas plants with 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy over the next five years.

"It's a historic day for Entergy Mississippi, our customers, and our state," said Haley Fisackerly, President and CEO, Entergy Mississippi. "Powering communities is the heart of our business, and this power station does that in several ways, by providing clean, green power to customers and a hedge against rising natural gas prices and giving industries with renewable energy goals an incentive to locate or expand operations in our state."

"We are proud to have completed the largest solar project in Mississippi on behalf of Entergy in a way that has supported Mississippi businesses and paved the way for more renewable energy in the state," said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Solar. "Sunflower is our first build-own-transfer project and our first project in Mississippi. We look forward to supporting the growth of solar throughout the southeast United States and repeating this model which provides additional value for our customers."

The project employed Mississippi vendors and construction workers. Attala Steel Industries, based in Kosciusko, supplied 2,475 tons of steel for foundations.