by Paul Gatling (pgatling@nwabj.com)

Little Rock-based solar power developer Scenic Hill Solar announced Thursday (Dec. 14) that four U.S-based solar equipment manufacturers have joined an initiative to encourage the manufacturing of American-made array components.

The American Made, Arkansas Built initiative now includes Array Technologies, Shoals Technologies Group, OMCO Solar and APA Solar Racking. In 2022, Scenic Hill Solar launched the initiative with First Solar, Yaskawa Solectria Solar, Nextracker, Zekelman Industries and KORE Power Inc.

“With our nine premier partners in the American Made, Arkansas Built Initiative, we are pushing for a restoration of American leadership in renewable energy,” said Bill Halter, CEO of Scenic Hill Solar. “The solar industry began in the United States, but then manufacturing shifted overseas. Our partnership with these leading American companies will help bring the industry back home to America by focusing on innovation and collaboration among the premier American manufacturers of solar equipment and batteries.

4 US solar manufacturers join American Made initiative

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Producers Rice Mill will have a new solar storage microgrid developed by Scenic Hill Solar and it will be a record-breaking.

The groups announced the project on Tuesday (March 21), but a timetable to complete the microgrid and price tag were not released.

The Producers’ project is the largest commercial and industrial solar project in Arkansas history and one of the largest microgrid projects in the U.S., the companies said. Since 1943, the Producers Rice Mill cooperative’s members – now including more than 2,000 U.S. farmers — have relied on the Producers’ facility in Stuttgart, to process, store, and ship their harvest around the world. The facility mills more than 40 million bushels of rice every year.

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/03/producers-rice-mill-to-erect-largest-solar-storage-microgrid-in-the-state/