Biggest solar project in N. Louisiana to power 20,000 homes

CADDO PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Rocking R Solar is an $82 million investment bringing the biggest solar project to North Louisiana. The land is 1,000 acres with almost 200,000 solar panels.

“The location here was ideal, right on I-49. When you come out of Arkansas into Louisiana, you see this, it’s good for Louisiana, that we’re progressive, that we’re trying to move forward, we’re not stuck in the past. We have a huge 1,000-acre solar farm right on the border of Arkansas,” said Commissioner Foster Campbell, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner for District 5.

Commissioner Campbell says this project will be a wave for the future and bring industries to the area.

The developer for the project is D. E. Shaw Renewable Investment, DESRI, a nationwide independent power producer. They have 70 facilities across 24 states.

“We’re so excited about working in Louisiana, working with communities that want state-of-the-art facilities that can generate power locally, that’s cost-effective, and that can come online fast,” said Liz Peyton, executive director of development for DESRI.

She echoed the sentiment of the potential to grow the area with leading industries.

“The way you’re able to capture that [industries] is when you have a power sector that as Foster said embodies all the technologies available to us, but also just gets the megawatts on the grid cost-effectively that’s both going to enable those new industries as well as help folks on fixed incomes or folks that have other things to do with their money than pay a higher power bill,” said Peyton.

SWEPCO will be purchasing the power from DESRI. According to Commissioner Campbell, the solar panels will bring electricity to approximately 20,000 households in Louisiana.

“We will add it into our capacity mix, and we’re able to then use that to power homes all across northwest Louisiana, and into our generation pool so again we’re excited about this type of investment that DESRI is making, we know that having a facility like this is our community helps make it more marketable and makes it more attractive,” said William Bradford, vice president of external affairs for SWEPCO.

The project is in its final capacity commissioning and testing, and it is almost mechanically complete. DESRI says it will be online shortly either in late spring or early summer 2025.