Entergy : Planning for tomorrow. Powering generations to come.

Insights > Planning for tomorrow. Powering generations to come.

08/15/2019

The Stuttgart Solar facility is turning sunshine into electricity.

The Stuttgart Solar facility is turning sunshine into electricity.

Entergy Arkansas is committed to continuous improvement of its systems and services and utilizing new technology to build a smarter grid. The first step toward modernizing and building a smarter energy future for our customers is transitioning to advanced metering infrastructure -- or AMI -- for homes and businesses we serve. It's a system that allows two-way communication between us and our customers.

With AMI, customers will get more tools and better information to help understand and manage their energy use more effectively, which can lead to lower bills and potential energy reduction. We'll be able to identify outages more accurately, so crews can make repairs and restore electricity faster. Having near real-time information on energy usage allows us to better answer billing and service questions more quickly.

Upgrading to advanced metering in Arkansas will offer our customers the following important benefits:

• More accurate outage information to help restore power faster.
• Stronger and smarter localized electrical infrastructure to help improve community resiliency.
• More detailed usage information to help customers better understand and manage their energy use.
• Improved customer service through expanded energy use data to help resolve billing issues more effectively.

Energy diversity means sustainability and affordability.

Maintaining a diverse energy portfolio is critically important for the short- and long-term well-being of our customers. Entergy Arkansas currently utilizes solar, nuclear, hydro, natural gas and coal energy sources. This level of diversity not only keeps prices as low as possible, but it helps to control emission output.

Nuclear --- 60 %

Natural Gas - 22.2%

Coal - 10.7%

Purchased Power 5.0%

Solar --- 0.2%

Hydro --- 1.9%

We're also looking to the future with solar energy. Arkansas' largest solar energy project, the Stuttgart Solar Energy Center, came online in 2018, providing 81 megawatts of clean, reliable power. A 100-megawatt solar facility in Chicot County will come online in 2020 and a proposed solar facility near Searcy will provide another 100 megawatts. Together, these facilities will provide enough clean power to energize more than 45,000 homes.

Entergy Arkansas is committed to a diverse energy portfolio because we're committed to do right by our customers.

Investing in the power grid. Investing in our future.

The future of Arkansas depends on efficient, reliable energy infrastructure. This infrastructure network, also known as the power grid, is comprised of transmission and distribution lines, substations and transformers. The lines are the 'roads' that deliver electricity to our customers, and the substations tie the transmission and distributions systems together.

We've made significant investments to strengthen Arkansas' infrastructure to meet the growing needs of our residents and businesses for years to come.

Some of the improvements include:

• Replacing wooden poles with poles made of stronger composite material to test for strength and longevity as part of a pilot program.
• Adding hundreds of miles of new distribution and transmission lines to the approximately 40,000 miles of lines currently managed by Entergy Arkansas.
• Replacing copper distribution wires with lighter, more reliable aluminum wires.
• Increasing tree-trimming and vegetation management throughout the 35,336 overhead line miles managed by Entergy Arkansas.