's data center campus in [West Memphis](https://baxtel.com/data-ce...](https://cdn.baxtel.com/data-center/entergy-adds-440mw-solar-ppa-for-google-west-memphis-expansion/logo/entergy-adds-440mw-solar-ppa-for-google-west-memphis-expansion-featured.webp){kind=logo}
Entergy Arkansas plans roughly $600 million of new generation and transmission for Google's data center campus in West Memphis, Arkansas, with Google covering the cost. The utility announced a second phase of its service agreement on Oct. 19 that adds a 440 MW solar contract and two battery projects, all of it subject to state approval.
Wide shot of Entergy Arkansas solar panels representing renewable power infrastructure in Mississippi County.
The additions are a 440 MW (ac) solar power purchase agreement from the Big Island Solar project Pattern Energy is building in Mississippi County, a 1,000 MWh battery at Driver Solar near Osceola, and a 400 MWh battery near Hot Springs. Entergy will also expand the Galet substation outside West Memphis and run two new 230 kV transmission lines to the campus. With the Cypress Solar and Battery project already under construction in Jefferson County, the package brings more than 1,000 MW of solar and 2,800 MWh of storage to the utility's Arkansas grid.
The 440 MW contract is not new to regulators.
The Arkansas Public Service Commission denied Entergy's standalone 20-year Big Island PPA in September, finding the cost unreasonable and the renewable energy credit values still under negotiation with Google. Entergy has folded the same contract into this filing, which it says follows commission guidance and now needs approval before a 2028 in-service date.
Entergy presents the deal as a net gain for ratepayers rather than a subsidy. Google pays the full cost of the resources built for it, and the utility puts new customer savings at $500 million or more starting in 2028 and running 20 years, on top of $1.6 billion from the first phase, reported by KARK. Total benefits are projected at $2.1 billion for 738,000 Arkansas customers, with no bill increase attached.
"Google is increasing its investment in West Memphis and building on the significant success of its first phase," said Laura Landreaux, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas.
Google's Amanda Peterson Corio said the company is funding new solar, battery storage and transmission to support affordability, reliability and local growth. The $4 billion campus, Google's first in Arkansas, was announced in October 2025, covers about 1,178 acres on Bollinger Road and is planned for five buildings.
Baxtel tracks 252 Google data center sites worldwide, 43 of them under construction, and lists the West Memphis campus at 400 MW across construction and planned stages.
The commission approved the $1.6 billion Cypress project in October with an independent monitor and quarterly construction reports attached, according to the Wynne Progress. Entergy has disputed an August Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report that Google would pay only about $526 million up front for that project, saying the figure misreads a contract under which Google covers the full 20-year cost.
The stakes run past Crittenden County. Utilities are selling hyperscaler-funded generation as the answer to AI load growth, and that argument holds only if regulators accept the cost allocation behind it. Arkansas is testing the case twice on the same customer, which makes this filing a template for other states weighing the same bargain.
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