# Cypress Order No. 4 — CECPN Approval The Commission's substantive 63-page final order in [[psc/docket-25-054-u-cypress-2026-05-22/_overview|Docket 25-054-U]] approving the Arkansas Cypress Solar Project. **The single most important order in the corpus for tying Entergy Arkansas's new-generation investment to a specific data-center customer.** ## Table of contents (from the order) 1. Procedural History 2. Application 3. Parties' Positions Before Hearing (Direct Testimony of EAL, AG, Staff; Supplemental Staff; Rebuttal EAL; Surrebuttal Staff; Sur-Surrebuttal EAL; Supplemental EAL) 4. Public Comments 5. Findings and Ruling of the Commission (CECPN Statutory Requirements; CECPN RPP Requirements; CECPN Notice; CECPN Siting; Required CECPN Findings under § 23-18-519(b); Strategic Investment Findings under § 23-4-1303(10)(A)-(C); Navigable Water Crossing Statutory Requirements) 6. Final Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law ## Key takeaways ### Cypress Solar specifications - **600 MW single-axis solar photovoltaic array** + **350 MW battery energy storage system (BESS)** - Sited on **~3,000 acres in Jefferson County**, across the Arkansas River from and adjacent to the **White Bluff coal plant** - Transmission Facilities: new 500 kV gen tie line, new 500/230 kV substation, 230 kV collector line, interconnection at White Bluff 500 kV substation - Includes a **Navigable Water Crossing** finding (the Arkansas River crossing) under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-3-501 et seq. ### **The Altitude Capital / Google linkage** (Order p. 4) > "EAL states that Cypress Solar is crucial to EAL's long-term resource plans for all customers, but **particularly an economic development customer, Altitude Capital, LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc (Google), that requires Cypress Solar to be included in EAL's generation portfolio as a condition for locating in EAL's service territory.**" (Application at 3; Dalrymple Direct at 2.) ### Dalrymple's direct testimony summary (Order p. 4) > "Ms. Dalrymple testifies that **Cypress Solar is critical to support service to Google's new data center** and it will help service the load and energy needs of all other EAL customers. She asserts that **renewable energy credits (RECs) generated by Cypress Solar will be retired proportionately on behalf of Google during the term of the Special Rate Contract (SRC).** She states that the incremental energy capacity and resource diversification from Cypress Solar will yield net benefits to all EAL customers. She also states that the ability to transfer transmission rights at the White Bluff Station is an important consideration from both a timing and cost perspective, both of which facilitated rate negotiations with Google. She testifies that from a timing perspective, this allows EAL to avoid the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) queue and Definitive Planning Process." ### Strategic Investment designation - Cypress Solar is designated a Strategic Investment under **Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1303(10)(C)** (renewable resource clause). - The Commission finds (a) Cypress benefits all customers, and (b) EAL retains adequate dispatchable resources. - The battery portion is a new dispatchable resource. - "The Commission approved EAL's proposed Strategic Investment Recovery Rider and designated it as the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act (GAJA) Rider in Docket No. 25-049-TF." (Footnote 1.) ### Independent Monitor requirement The order conditions approval on **Independent Monitor (IM) oversight of construction**. This is the first of three orders (Ironwood, Jefferson, Cypress) requiring IM oversight, later consolidated by [[Cypress Order No. 5 Independent Monitor Consolidation]] into Docket 26-033-U. ### The MISO-bypass mechanism Cypress Solar interconnects via transfer of transmission rights from the soon-to-deactivate White Bluff coal plant. This **bypasses the MISO interconnection queue and Definitive Planning Process** — a non-standard interconnection path designed to accommodate Google's preferred timing. ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Entergy Arkansas]] — applicant - [[Altitude Capital, LLC]] — Google subsidiary, the conditioning data-center customer - [[Google LLC]] / Alphabet, Inc. — parent - [[Arkansas Public Service Commission]] — decisional authority - Kristin R. Dalrymple — EAL Business Operations and Strategy witness (sponsors the Altitude Capital linkage) - Robert J. Fluth — EAL Power Development Renewables and Storage Director - Other EAL witnesses: Kandice Fielder, Michael T. Milton, Brad T. Cullipher, Amy L. Morris, Bradley J. Phillips - AG: Scott Norwood - Staff: Mark Herring, Thomas A. Martin, Jeffrey D. Bower ## Concepts invoked - [[Arkansas Cypress]] - [[Strategic Investment]] under § 23-4-1303(10)(C) (renewable resource) - [[Generating Arkansas Jobs Act (GAJA) rider]] (Rate Schedule 73) - [[Special rate contract]] — companion proceeding (25-055-P) - CECPN under § 23-18-503 et seq. - Navigable Water Crossing (NWC) finding under § 23-3-501 et seq. - Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) — retired on Google's behalf during SRC term - MISO interconnection queue (bypassed) - Independent Monitor (IM) oversight regime ## Cross-references - [[Cypress Order No. 5 Independent Monitor Consolidation]] — consolidates IM oversight into Docket 26-033-U - [[GAJA Rider 2026 Annual Update]] — Cypress is the third of three Strategic Investment plants - [[Entergy CEO Direct Testimony]] — names Altitude Capital and the $1.7B savings claim - [[Altitude Capital, LLC]] — the data-center customer - [[Google LLC]] / the West Memphis "Project Pyramid" data-center site ## Role in T002 dialectics This order is the load-bearing **comparator case** in [[T002 - Ironwood Strategic Investment Designation Requirement|T002]]: Section F's dedicated "**Strategic Investment Findings under § 23-4-1303(10)(A)-(C)**" sub-section walks through each prong by name and concludes that Cypress Solar qualifies as a Strategic Investment. This structure — explicit, discrete, named Strategic Investment findings — is conspicuously absent from [[docket-24-072-u-order-9-2026-05-24/_overview|Ironwood Order No. 9]] (Doc. 152, 2025-04-18). The asymmetry was surfaced by [[D002 Antithesis]] and re-engaged by [[D004 Antithesis]] as evidence that the Commission's actual practice is to make discrete designations when it intends to. The D004 synthesis treats this order as proof that designation **can** ride inside a CECPN order — narrowing the T002 dispute to a question of *minimum content* (what an order must contain to count as designation) rather than *categorical exclusion*. ## Open questions / follow-ups - **Docket 25-055-P** — the companion Altitude Capital Special Rate Contract proceeding. Ingested 2026-05-22 — see the [[psc/docket-25-054-u-cypress-2026-05-22/_overview|25-055-P production overview]]. - The MISO-queue-bypass mechanism — what's the precedent value for other Arkansas data-center interconnections? - The IM Independent Monitor designation — Docket 26-033-U. - The minimum-content question for Strategic Investment designation — see [[T002 - Ironwood Strategic Investment Designation Requirement]] for the cross-comparator analysis with Order No. 9 and the Jefferson docket.