There’s a new contender for the nation’s largest solar energy project: a 2.5 GWdc solar and 2.9 GWh battery storage project in Arkansas that is already queued up for a power purchase agreement with a tech giant.
Independent power producer Cypress Creek Energy and Google celebrated the start of construction on the first two phases of Steel River Energy Center this week, which will deliver 1.6 GWdc of new solar generation and 1.9 GWh of new battery storage to the local grid. Once fully complete, the three-phase project will provide 2.5 GWdc of solar and 2.9 GWh of battery storage to the local grid system by 2029.
Under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with project owner and operator Cypress Creek, Google has secured energy from the first two phases of Steel River Energy Center, which represents the largest solar and storage project across Google’s global portfolio to date.
“Steel River not only represents an important investment in Google’s clean energy commitments, but also in our commitment to Arkansas,” said Will Conkling, head of data center energy at Google. “This collaboration with Cypress Creek Energy will strengthen the grid and help ensure more reliable, affordable, and clean energy is available for businesses and communities throughout the state.”
The project will connect to the regional grid, adding new generation and storage capacity to help power Arkansas’s industrial economy, including steel manufacturing and new data centers.
The current record holder for largest operating solar project by capacity in the U.S. is the Edwards & Sanborn Solar + Energy Storage facility, which boasts 875 MW of solar energy alongside 3,287 MWh of energy storage, with a total interconnection capacity of 1,300 MW. That project went online in Kern County, CA in 2024.
Several other huge solar + storage projects have been proposed since the Edwards & Sanborn facility went online, with two notable examples in California.
Intersect subsidiary IP Darden 1 LLC proposed to construct and operate the Darden Clean Energy Project on about 9,500 acres of land in an agricultural area of unincorporated western Fresno County, south of Cantua Creek, CA, featuring a 1.15 gigawatt (GW) solar photovoltaic (PV) facility comprised of about 3.1 million solar panels and an up to 4,600 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system (BESS) capable of storing up to 1.15 GW of electricity for four hours. This project is currently under construction, with completion aimed for 2028.
The Perkins Renewable Energy Project, proposed by Intersect Power subsidiary IP Perkins LLC, would sit on U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) administered public lands and some private land in Imperial County east of El Centro, California. Like the Darden project, Perkins would feature a 1.15 GW capacity solar facility and up to 1.15 GW of four-hour battery storage (4,600 MWh). This project is still in the permitting stage.
Nearly all of the project’s structural steel will come from Mississippi County, Arkansas. For the project’s first two phases, PACO Steel will provide more than 400,000 steel piles manufactured in Blytheville using more than 142,000 tons of steel coils produced at U.S. Steel’s Big River Steel facility in Osceola.
“Some people still question whether a domestic solar supply chain is possible. This project is proof,” said Kevin Smith, CEO of Cypress Creek Energy. “Steel River is the largest solar project with energy storage in the country, and it’s being built with 100% U.S.-made solar panels and structural steel. That’s good for American manufacturing, good for Arkansas, and good for the country’s energy future.”
The project will also utilize solar trackers from Nextpower, built with domestically produced steel, including “significant” steel content from Big River. Additionally, the project will include 100% U.S.-made solar modules from First Solar and battery energy storage systems from LG Energy Solution Vertech, assembled in the United States with battery cells manufactured entirely in North America, predominantly at U.S. factories.
“Steel River Energy Center is a welcome addition to our business community in Arkansas and will provide vital energy storage services to support manufacturing operations,” said Clint O’Neal, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. “This facility will be a showcase of American manufacturing, using steel manufactured right in Mississippi County, Arkansas, and we congratulate the company on its groundbreaking.”
