Alex GladdenFort Smith Times Record
The city of Greenwood has started powering four city-owned buildings with solar power with the recent opening of the first of two solar farms.
The city spent about $40,000 to purchase the 10 acres for the first solar farm which is located behind the sewer treatment plant, Mayor Doug Kinslow said.
Other than the cost of the land, the city did not contribute any money toward the project. Scenic Hill Solar paid for the more than $1 million it cost to build the solar farm.
Scenic Hill Solar will sell the generated power to the city.
Kinslow said it is important to note that if the sun does not shine, the four buildings that are powered by solar power will still receive electricity and if solar power fails for whatever reason, the city will revert back to using traditional power.
The city plans to open a second solar farm within the next three to six-plus months.
The second solar farm will be on about four acres and is located by Greenwood City Lake.
Combined, the two solar farms should save the city more than $70,000 annually, according to projections from Scenic Hill Solar.
The solar farms will provide 50% of the city’s government and municipal operations’ energy needs, according to a city press release.
They will produce more than 1,448,670 kilowatt-hours of electricity in the first year and more than 40,200,780 kilowatt-hours over 30 years.
The plants will reduce carbon emissions by more than 28,140 tons, which is equivalent to driving 70 million fewer passenger car miles or planting over 7,211,550 tree seedlings.
“It’s just the right thing to do ecologically speaking,” Kinslow said.
Alex Gladden is a University of Arkansas graduate. She previously reported for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and The Jonesboro Sun before joining the Times Record. She can be contacted at agladden@swtimes.com.
https://www.swtimes.com/story/news/2021/12/03/greenwood-opens-first-solar-farm/8733429002/
