Phillips County Solar Project on Track, Construction Set for Summer

A roughly $5 million utility-scale solar installation on farmland at U.S. 49 and Phillips County Road 307, just outside Helena-West Helena, remained on schedule as of last week, with construction set to begin this summer and completion targeted by the end of the year or early next, according to company spokesman Blake Spurgeon.

Tennessee-based Silicon Ranch, through its subsidiary ClearLoop, announced plans in June to develop the 4-megawatt, 116-acre project on what is currently agricultural land at the edge of West Helena. Spurgeon said the wattage produced will be enough to power 800 homes.

Silicon Ranch owns and operates more than 150 solar projects in 15 states, including a 181-acre, 12-megawatt installation in Camden that provides power for rocket manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne. ClearLoop, the subsidiary handling the Phillips County project, has developed solar infrastructure across the South, including three installations in Mississippi totaling 18 megawatts.

ClearLoop focuses specifically on corporate customers seeking to invest in renewable energy projects, Spurgeon said. He declined to name the offtaker for the Phillips County project.

On the economic front, Spurgeon framed the project as a direct benefit to county finances. "These ClearLoop projects are really economic development drivers," he said. "It's taxes going straight into the county without us needing a tax abatement, or water services or anything like that."

The specific tax revenue the county stands to receive has not been publicly disclosed, and no named local officials have yet been quoted on the project's progress. The identity of the corporate power buyer also remains undisclosed. Whether all required permits and interconnection agreements are in place has not been confirmed by the company.