A multinational energy company has completed construction of its first solar farm in Louisiana, a project outside Monroe that will generate enough electricity to power 17,000 homes and utilize a flock of 600 sheep as onsite lawnmowers. 

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will buy the renewable energy, though the solar project is not directly tied to the massive artificial intelligence data center that the tech giant is building in northeast Louisiana. The renewable energy is part of Meta’s broader sustainability goals, a spokesperson for the company said. Meta has separately committed to bring an additional 1500MW of renewable energy to the grid through its contract with Entergy, the state’s largest utility. 

The 550-acre project called Lafitte Solar, located in Ouachita Parish four miles south of Monroe, is the latest solar announcement in Louisiana tied to Meta. Electricity from the 100-megawatt site will start flowing to the regional grid by the end of the year. RWE Clean Energy, the U.S. subsidiary of the German-based energy company, is the developer. 

“This is the culmination of almost seven years of work,” said Cody Hoffman, project lead for RWE’s project near Monroe. “It’s really great to see all that work come together.” 

Earlier this month, Meta signed a deal with another developer to build two large-scale solar farms in rural Morehouse and Sabine Parishes. The three projects will total 485 megawatts, enough electricity to power around 100,000 homes. 

“Projects like Lafitte Solar are essential to achieving our clean energy goals while strengthening communities,” Amanda Yang, head of clean energy at Meta, said in a prepared statement. 

Local support, opposition

Joe Holyfield, chairman of the Ouachita Parish Industrial Development Board, said the more than $100 million solar project positively impacted the local economy. The solar farm saw around 150 construction jobs at peak and is expected to generate $32 million in tax revenue over its lifetime. Hoffman said the company cannot disclose the duration of its power-purchase agreement with Meta. 

Property tax revenue increased when the former agricultural land was changed to industrial use, Holyfield said. He also observed workers with the construction contractor, McCarthy, visiting local restaurants, hardware stores and other local businesses. 

“They’ve been good partners in our community,” said Holyfield, who attended a Nov. 13 ribbon-cutting event for the project alongside solar developers and other local officials. 

But the solar farm faced some opposition from nearby residents, Holyfield said, which the developers addressed by installing barriers between houses and the solar farm. 

“You’d probably rather look at a pretty field than a solar farm, but you’ve also got to create energy for growth in our community and all of northeast Louisiana,” Holyfield said. 

Sheep? 

The former farmland will soon be transformed even further, when a flock of around 600 sheep will arrive to graze around the solar panels. The project marks RWE’s first Louisiana development, but not its first time deploying the woolly mammal lawnmowers. 

“Sheep are the best animal that can do grazing amongst these solar panels,” Hoffman said. “Cows can damage the panels, goats will climb on everything and chew on everything. Sheep are docile and calm and they just like to eat grass.”

The sheep present a greener way to maintain the vegetation, which can grow wild in the north Louisiana climate. 

“You can mow it, and it’s expensive, and you’re just burning gasoline and nobody likes it,” Hoffman said.  

The sheep grazing will be managed by a local contractor, the company confirmed.