OZARK, Ark. — Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC) is investing $93 million to expand the Thomas B Fitzhugh generating station.
The station first broke ground in 1963 which aids in the expansion of existing infrastructure. COO of Arkansas Electric, Jonathan Oliver, explained that "with staff, there's gas infrastructure, there's transmission infrastructure. So this became a great place to locate additional resources."
Industry and region leaders hosted the groundbreaking on Friday with the ceremonial spades in hand. The construction started in September and will result in the addition of two natural gas turbines generating power by late 2025. The station's total generation capacity will reach 270 megawatts from the previous 170.
"We serve about 600,000 people or meters. So that will give us the ability to power about 100,000 of those with this additional power that we're adding," the AECC COO said.
The energy industry has been making a move to natural gas and has decommissioned nuclear and coal power plants along the way. In 2021, the cooperative said it led to a shortage that sparked a power crisis.
"What we created was a situation where there was more need for electricity than there were generating plants to supply it. And so, during winter storm Uri, for the first time in our cooperative's 80-year history, we actually had to call members to say, we're going to shut your power off," President and CEO Buddy Hasten said. "That is a wake-up call for an industry that's supposed to be reliable, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year."
The plants will run on natural gas but in the case of an emergency, it can switch to fuel oil. It's part of the cooperative's philosophy, Balance of Power, that aims to "maintain a portfolio of diverse energy generation resources to deliver dependable and cost-effective electricity." It's that kind of reliability that has mayors like Veronica Post of Altus excited for the extra spark.
"Whether it's small or extremely large, you have to have electricity. So this plant expansion offering electricity is my hope that it brings in many more businesses to our area because they know they're going to have a reliable power source," Post said.
"When you think about all the challenges on the electric grid these days, think about the sun setting at night and solar is going away, or the wind just stops blowing, there's a need for power quick, and these assets, will be able to do that," Hasten said.
Hasten adds that he looks to future expansions as AI, data centers, manufacturing, and lithium join the Natural State's power grid.
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