Documents provided under an Open Records request revealed Google will pay Entergy Arkansas more than one-half billion dollars to build a solar project to help power Google’s West Memphis data center in Arkansas. But word of the documents prompted a court fight over freedom of the press.
Those and other public revelations surfaced in documents provided to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by Central Arkansas resident Jessica Kivell who obtained the records, some of them marked “Confidential,” through a request under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act filed with the state Public Service Commission, according to a report by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
The report said Google will pay $526 million to Entergy Arkansas to construct Cypress Solar which is about one-third of the $1.6 billion cost of the solar and battery facility.
Google will pay Entergy Arkansas $526 million to build Cypress Solar, about one-third of the $1.6 billion price tag of the solar and battery facility. Google will pay an additional $190 million to Entergy for transmission system upgrades needed to serve the project.
But a freedom of the press right erupted when the newspaper published the story this week, prompting Entergy Arkansas to file a complaint in federal court asking a judge to block local news groups from publishing information about the power plans for the massive data center that is under development in West Memphis.
The utility asked for a temporary restraining order against the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Arkansas Times, alleging that the news organizations had, or planned to, publish confidential information mistakenly released by the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
The Democrat-Gazette on Monday reported details of the agreement between Entergy and Google, which is building the data center, to fund the construction of Cypress Solar, a 600-megawatt solar field and 350-megawatt battery facility.
In December, the commission approved a special rate contract between Google and Entergy. Details of the contract have been mostly kept secret, as both companies said the agreement contained confidential business information. The Democrat-Gazette sued the commission seeking information from the contract. A circuit court judge directed the newspaper back to the commission.
In an Oct. 2 news release, Entergy Arkansas said the West Memphis data center “will be bolstered by a new 600-megawatt solar project, backed by a 350-megawatt battery storage system that will be located in Jefferson County, Arkansas. Google will pay rates that cover the cost of this resource.”
Arkansas Business reported that Gary D. Marts Jr., an attorney with the Wright Lindsey Jennings law firm representing Entergy Arkansas, in a Monday email requested the Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Times and Kivell “refrain from any further disclosure of (Entergy Arkansas’) trade secrets, destroy any copies of the information that you have, and confirm that you have done so.”
Entergy spokesman Matt Ramsey said Monday he could not comment on the documents because they “allege to disclose confidential customer information.”
Google did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment about the documents.
