EDPR Breaks Ground on 250-MW Cypress Knee Solar for Meta in Arkansas

• EDP Renewables North America broke ground on Cypress Knee Solar, a 250-MW project in Chicot County, Arkansas, it said on Nov. 4.
• Meta backs the project with a long-term PPA, its third with EDPR NA, taking their contracted total to 545 MW.
• Completion is due by 2028, and the plant should bring Chicot County about $25 million over its lifetime.

EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA) has broken ground on Cypress Knee Solar, a 250-MW utility-scale solar project in Chicot County, Arkansas. The company announced the start on Nov. 4. Meta backs the plant with a long-term power purchase agreement.

EDPR NA did not give the investment, the length of the contract, the equipment suppliers or the expected annual output in its statement.

Meta and EDPR NA announced the PPA on May 4. It was Meta's third agreement with the developer and lifted the energy the two have contracted to 545 MW, according to the May announcement. The first was a 139-MW PPA at the 200-MW Headwaters II wind farm in Indiana. The second covered 156 MW at the 240-MW Cattlemen Solar Park in Texas, EDPR said in April 2022.

The project in numbers

• 250 MW of solar in Chicot County, Arkansas, due to be completed by 2028.
• 545 MW contracted between Meta and EDPR NA in three deals; Cypress Knee accounts for about 46% of it (list.solar calculation).
• About $25 million in new revenue for Chicot County over the project's lifetime, or roughly $100,000 per MW (list.solar calculation).
• Several hundred jobs expected at peak construction.
• More than $77,000 donated by EDPR NA to groups in Chicot County during development.
• 2,782 MW of utility-scale solar PV capacity in Arkansas in August 2026, up 20% from a year earlier, according to preliminary EIA data.
• About 9%: Cypress Knee's size compared with that statewide fleet (list.solar calculation).

The donations went to the restoration of the Lakeside High School greenhouse, the Lakeside Robotics team and the Lake Village food pantry. Houston-based EDPR NA operates more than 12,300 MW of onshore wind, solar and storage in North America, including 29 solar parks.

"As energy demand continues to rise, projects like Cypress Knee Solar help strengthen grid reliability while creating jobs, generating meaningful local revenue, and delivering long-term benefits to the communities that host them," Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of EDPR NA, said in the statement.

The project supports Meta's goal of matching 100% of its annual electricity use with clean and renewable energy. EDPR NA expects to complete construction by 2028.