GM brings a massive solar energy boost to its assembly plants

The automaker will be adding the renewable power generated in Arkansas to three plants

General Motors recently announced that it would be using solar energy from a farm in Arkansas to power three of its assembly plants with clean electricity. 

That said, Arkansas is going much further than that for renewable power

Arkansas has been seeing explosive growth in clean electricity, even beyond the boost given by GM by powering its assembly plants with solar energy.  The state has been undergoing a massive transition into renewable electricity, particularly as it makes an additional focus on thin film solar technology.

Still, as much as the growth of the clean power has been taking off rapidly in the state, it is still in its early days.

As of Q1 this year, Arkansas was still only 27^th out of all the US states when ranked by solar power capacity, according to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association. Clearly it is doing better in that specific category than many other states, but it doesn’t even come close to approaching some of the states with substantially higher populations such as Texas and California.

Rooftop solar energy panels and small-scale projects are on the rise

While GM has brought a big name to those using the renewable electricity generated in Arkansas, much of the growth in the state has also been supported by small-scale projects as well as rooftop panels on houses.

Trends saw a major change in 2019, when Act 464 passed.  This law broadened net metering and offered third-party financing access.

“Since then, there has been an ever-increasing number of school districts, cities, counties and municipal utilities buying into solar energy,” said an Arkansas Money & Politics Experts report from May 2021, which looked at the impact of that law.

That said, as of the first quarter of this year, there were only 1,122 megawatts of installed solar energy capacity in Arkansas.

Growth is now taking off

Arkansas has been working on growing its solar energy production, and GM will only contribute to that target. The automaker’s consumption of the renewable energy will support the state’s efforts to grow its use of new technology and the expansion of its photovoltaic panel farms.