Arkansas to build 600 MW solar project for Google’s $4B data center

When complete, the project will add 600 MW to the 3,245 MW of solar capacity on the Arkansas grid.

October 3, 2025 Rachel Metea

The semi-clear wind-protecting panels that create a rainbow effect on ydry cooler platform in sunny Storey County, Nevada

Image: Google

Arkansas approved Entergy’s proposed 600 MW solar project to help power a $4 billion Google data center campus in West Memphis, Ark.

Known as “Project Pyramid,” the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s (APSC) approval also included a 350 MW energy storage system and related transmission equipment.

The development will include five data centers and office buildings across nearly 1,200 acres.

The campus will also include cloud and AI infrastructure, and local programs to increase energy resilience, Google said.

Along with the solar installation, Google said it plans to use demand-response programs to reduce power usage during peak hours.

Google said it will work with Entergy to develop the programs. Google’s initiatives into demand-response programs are recent. In August, Google announced it signed agreements with Indiana Michigan Power and Tennessee Valley Authority to, for the first time in the company’s history, deliver data-center demand-response by targeting machine-learning workloads.

Last year, Google said it reduced the power demand associated with machine-learning workloads during three grid events last year in collaboration with Omaha Public Power District.

“Large industrial and technology companies are increasingly looking at our state because we offer reliable power at affordable rates, and we plan to keep it that way,” Laura Landreaux, the president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas.

Arkansas has the highest electric rate in the West South Central region for both the industrial and the commercial sectors, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Electricity demand is expected to triple for the AI and cloud computing industry from 200 TWh in 2025 to 600 TWh in 2030, according to a report published in April from LandGate.

This increase in demand represents 11.7% of the total electricity demand of the United States, LandGate said. Additionally, according to Wood Mackenzie, data centers developed since 2023 exceeded 92 GW of capacity at the end of 2024.

Data centers continue to lead global corporate clean energy procurement efforts, with more than 17 GW of deals contracted in 2024, largely driven by demand in the United States, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. The data center sector accounted for almost 60% of the corporate deals in the United States in 2024, up on the previous year’s average of around 50%. Globally, data centers have also been a driving force behind corporate procurement, accounting for more than a quarter of announced capacity globally, predominantly through direct, third-party PPAs.

With these large centers, however, comes not just a need for large electricity loads, but land. According to Wood Mackenzie, the median data center building square footage increased 9.5% from 2023 to 2024 and the average campus square footage increased more than 23% over that period.

In addition to large investments and the need for large electricity loads, data centers are also requiring large tracts of land. The report finds that median data center building square footage increased 9.5% from 2023 to 2024 and the average campus square footage increased more than 23% over that period.

For this reason, the Arkansas location for Google’s new data center campus is somewhat notable, as the company has data centers spread across the U.S. and the world, but this will be the company’s first data center in the Arkansas, which has traditionally not had the most notable data center market.

Google recently came under scrutiny when the Canada’s National Observer discovered Google had quietly scrubbed its Sustainability website, which touted its pledge to achieve net-zero emissions across all operations by 2030 above the fold.

Arkansas’ 5th per capita and 16th in capacity for utility-scale solar is large in part the surge in growth it experienced last year.

(Also read: West Virginia’s new law bets big on microgrids & Virginia governor vetoes more energy storage despite data centers roaring for more power)

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