Marshall Coover, director of government affairs for Treaty Oak Clean Energy (Photo provided by Treaty Oak Clean Energy)

A Texas clean energy company will break ground in December on a 100-megawatt solar array on 1,000 acres in Grant County, east of Sheridan.

Treaty Oak Clean Energy of Austin, Texas, announced the $150 million project on Monday. The array, named Redfield Solar Project, will bring up to 200 jobs to the area over 18 months of construction. A jobs fair is set for Thursday in Sheridan.

“This is our first project that we’re actually getting into construction,” Treaty Oak Director of Government Affairs Marshall Coover told Arkansas Business. “It’s a relatively new company, call it two and a half years, but it’s populated by a lot of very long-term renewable energy experts.”

CEO Christopher Elrod and Chief Revenue Officer Rohit Ogra founded Treaty Oak in 2022. The enterprise, a portfolio company of Macquarie Asset Management of Sydney, Australia, has about 60 employees now, and Coover expects that number to grow to 75 by the end of this year.

Treaty Oak expects to “flip the switch” to begin commercial operations in the first or second quarter of 2026.

Virtual Power Sales Deal

Treaty Oak, named for Austin’s famous 500-year-old tree, has a virtual power purchase agreement in place for a big-name technology company, Coover said. He wasn’t at liberty to name the company, but he described how the VPPA works.

The power will be interconnected via Entergy Arkansas to the MISO power grid, where it will go onto the wholesale power market. The technology company will reap the value of that power, along with associated renewable energy credits.

The array’s 100-megawatt capacity is enough to power about 20,000 homes, Coover said. “We’ve got a great capital partner and a winning formula,” he said. “That formula is driven by our mantra of value over volume.” The company carefully screens potential projects and keeps their number low “to focus on de-risking and really investing time in community engagement,” he said. “There’s a lot of misinformation about solar developments and communities, understandably, are starting to ask questions.”

Treaty Oak has worked closely with Grant County Judge Randy Pruitt, municipal officials and even school systems, Coover said. 

“We decided that we’re going to make our ability to build relationships at the local level and engage with these communities a major differentiator for us,” Coover said. “You know, we see it as a business opportunity. We’re going to be able to go and build projects where other companies can’t.”

Top Tech

The project will employ state-of-the-art technology, including sun-following tracking and bifacial panels that create power out of direct and reflected sunlight.

The company looks for sites that include at least 1,000 acres of contiguous, flat and dry land, Coover said. The area has to be sunny, of course, and Treaty Oak favors timber land over agricultural acreage. The Grant County location is on timberland cleared by its seller. A land agent helped facilitate the deal.

The Grant County site had another advantage: guaranteed transmission capacity.

“For this Arkansas project the reason we know the transmission line has [sufficient] capacity is there’s a coal plant not too far away that’s retiring, which is going to decrease the burden on this transmission line.”

Entergy Arkansas is retiring its White Bluff power plant in Redfield in 2018, the utility said.

The array is in MISO’s South Region, and that was also a favorable factor, Coover said. 

“They’re doing very long-term forecasting processes to get an idea of what power prices will do,” he said. “We’ve sold the power under the PPA for a set period of years. But there’s a 40 year life of the project. And beyond the PPA, what we’re basically doing is assuming that prices in that market will continue to be favorable.”

Job Fair

Treaty Oak scheduled Thursday’s job fair for 6 p.m. at 1915 Rock Street in Sheridan. Treaty Oak officials will attend, and Primoris Services Corp. of Dallas will offer construction jobs. Positions available include heavy equipment operator, solar installer, mechanical, civil and electrical laborer, helper, journeyman and electrician. After construction is complete in mid-2026, two or three technicians will staff the array, overseeing ongoing operations and maintenance.

“We’re thrilled to kick off this project and become part of the Grant County community,” Elrod, Treaty Oak’s CEO, said in the company’s announcement. “This project will not only bring jobs, property tax revenue, and other economic benefits to the region, but it will also play a significant role in contributing to Arkansas leading the way as an ‘All of the Above’ energy state.”

Treaty Oak Vice President of Construction Greg Karney said the company was “excited to offer the local workforce these good-paying, high-quality jobs.”

Tax Benefits

The array will generate about $200,000 in annual property tax revenue from land that previously generated $1,800. Treaty Oak is making a $100,000 donation to Grant County. 

“We’ve got a couple of different opportunities to do something really engaging and meaningful for the community,” Coover said.

The government affairs specialist said people often overlook that there’s a very strong business case for developing solar power generation.

“The national conversation about climate change and things like this distracts people,” he said. “We’re not here to promote an agenda. We’re here to maximize the value of land, harvest a resource, create wealth for landowners, and drive cheap energy prices. It’s that simple.”

As a for-profit enterprise, Treaty Oak sees the project as a victory for everybody.

Cover called the project “a win for us, a win for our landowner, and a win for our communities.”

“This particular project offers a 120x increase in the productivity resource with very little associated costs of the county,” he said.

“If we were a manufacturer or a big residential development, they would have to provide sewer and collect the waste, and provide police and fire and everything else. Once the project’s built, no one’s ever going to know we’re there, and they’re going to get to cash a check every year. We believe that there’s upside for everybody.”