NEW ORLEANS – Entergy New Orleans began receiving power from the 50-megawatt Iris Solar facility in Washington Parish under an agreement that commenced on Nov. 1.
“Entergy New Orleans plays a critical role in delivering clean-energy solutions that are essential in lowering greenhouse gas emissions,” said Deanna Rodriguez, Entergy New Orleans president and CEO. “The Iris solar facility is the latest addition of utility-scale solar to our growing renewable and clean energy resource portfolio delivering affordable and clean energy to our customers.”
The facility was developed, engineered and constructed by D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments on 492 acres in Washington Parish and includes approximately 187,000 solar panels. Entergy New Orleans has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with the resource.
“DESRI was thrilled to commission the Iris Solar facility late last month and to deliver this project’s new renewable energy to Entergy’s customers,” said David Zwillinger, CEO of DESRI. “Our team considers Entergy a close partner and we look forward to bringing more solar projects online for them in the next few years.”
Entergy considers the solar facility an important addition to its existing generation fleet. The utility said that similar solar projects, such as the New Orleans Solar Station in New Orleans East and the soon-to-be-completed St. James Solar project in St. James Parish, will help reduce carbon emissions and keep New Orleans on the path to a clean energy future.
The Entergy New Orleans portfolio also includes approximately 420 megawatts of carbon-free generating capacity from nuclear resources. With the addition of the Iris and St. James solar projects, Entergy said carbon-free resources will account for nearly 40% of its generation capacity and will continue to decrease carbon emissions.
