# APSC Docket 25-054-U — Arkansas Cypress Solar CECPN (production overview) The CECPN docket for **[[Arkansas Cypress]]** — Entergy Arkansas's solar-plus-battery resource in Jefferson County. **The single most significant docket in this investigation for the "who pays" question**: the substantive Commission order ([[Cypress Order No. 4 CECPN Approval]]) *explicitly* names **[[Altitude Capital, LLC]] (subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc. / Google) as the economic-development customer who required Cypress Solar as a condition for locating in Entergy Arkansas's service territory**. This is the first Arkansas CECPN order in the corpus to name a specific data-center customer as the driver of a Strategic Investment. ## What's inside (curated subset) Six filings: - [[Cypress Order No. 1 Interim Protective Order]] — Doc. 3, 2025-09-02. Protective order architecture. - [[Cypress Order No. 2 Procedural Schedule]] — Doc. 42, 2025-09-25. Sets hearing for 2025-12-01. - [[Cypress Order No. 3 Supplemental Testimony]] — Doc. 69, 2025-10-20. Allows Staff supplemental testimony. - **[[Cypress Order No. 4 CECPN Approval]]** — Doc. 105, 2026-03-03. **The 63-page substantive final order approving the CECPN.** Names Altitude Capital LLC and Google by name; describes Cypress Solar specs and Strategic Investment findings. - [[Cypress Hearing Transcript Notice]] — Doc. 100, 2025-12-15. The "Veritext public notice" stub — the 316-page hearing transcript is NOT online (same pattern as [[Hearing Transcript Filing Notice|26-008-TF Doc 74]]). - **[[Cypress Order No. 5 Independent Monitor Consolidation]]** — Doc. 108, 2026-04-24. Consolidates the Independent Monitor (IM) proposals for LC5, JPS, and Cypress into the new Docket **26-033-U**. (Also numbered as Order No. 11 in 24-072-U, Order No. 10 in 25-047-U, Order No. 5 in 25-054-U, and Order No. 1 in 26-033-U.) The Application (Doc. 10, ~340 MB) was attempted but its size exceeded session-practical retrieval limits. Substance was extracted from [[Cypress Order No. 4 CECPN Approval|Order No. 4]] (which extensively summarizes the Application). ## Key takeaways ### Cypress Solar specifications (from Order No. 4) - **Resource type**: 600 MW single-axis solar photovoltaic array + 350 MW battery energy storage system (BESS). - **Site: ~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 transmission line - New 500 / 230 kV substation - 230 kV collector transmission line - Interconnection at EAL's White Bluff 500 kV substation across the Arkansas River - **Designated Strategic Investment** under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1303(10)(C) (renewable resource) — the Commission finds Cypress benefits all customers and EAL will retain adequate dispatchable resources. - **Approved with Independent Monitor (IM) oversight requirement.** ### **The Altitude Capital / Google linkage — Order No. 4, p. 4** This is the **explicit finding** that ties Arkansas Cypress directly to Google's data-center demand: > "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.**" And from Dalrymple's direct testimony (summarized in the order): > "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." ### The MISO-bypass mechanism The order continues: > "From a timing perspective, this allows EAL to avoid the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) queue and Definitive Planning Process." Cypress Solar is being interconnected via transfer of transmission rights from the (soon-to-deactivate) White Bluff coal plant — a procedural mechanism that **bypasses the MISO interconnection queue**. This is itself a major substantive issue: a hyperscale customer's preferred timing is being accommodated by using a non-standard interconnection path. ### The companion Special Rate Contract — Docket 25-055-P [[Cypress Order No. 3 Supplemental Testimony]] (Doc. 69) authorizes Staff to file supplemental testimony in this docket *after* it sees the testimony in **Docket 25-055-P** (the companion Special Rate Contract docket between EAL and Altitude Capital). The Staff letter (Doc. 67, 2025-10-10) explicitly says: "Following formal positions and testimony filed jointly by Staff and the Attorney General in companion Docket No. 25-055-P regarding the Special Rate Contract, Staff now anticipates filing supplemental testimony to revise its recommendations in this docket." **The Cypress CECPN and the Altitude Capital Special Rate Contract were litigated as companion proceedings.** Docket 25-055-P was ingested as a curated subset on 2026-05-22 — see the [[psc/docket-25-054-u-cypress-2026-05-22/_overview|25-055-P production overview]]. ### Hearing transcript not online [[Cypress Hearing Transcript Notice|Doc. 100]] is a one-page Veritext public notice. The full **316-page transcript** of the 2025-12-01 evidentiary hearing is held at the Commission Secretary's office, with paid copies from Veritext Court Reporting. Same documentary-gap pattern as the 26-008-TF transcript. ### The Independent Monitor consolidation [[Cypress Order No. 5 Independent Monitor Consolidation|Doc. 108 / Order No. 5]] (also numbered Order No. 11 in 24-072-U, Order No. 10 in 25-047-U, and Order No. 1 in 26-033-U): the Commission consolidates the IM oversight of all three Strategic Investment plants (LC5 / Ironwood, JPS / Jefferson Power Station, Cypress Solar) into the **new Docket 26-033-U**. Filings due 2026-05-08 from Staff/AG/Intervenors with recommendations on IM candidates and whether a single IM should serve all three projects; EAL response due 2026-05-22. ## What was NOT retrieved - The Application itself (Doc. 10) — file size (~340 MB) exceeded session-practical retrieval. Its substance is captured via Order No. 4's extensive summary. - The HSPI-sealed direct, rebuttal, surrebuttal, and supplemental testimony. - The 2025-12-01 evidentiary hearing transcript (316 pages, held at the Commission Secretary's office; not online). - The companion docket **25-055-P** (Special Rate Contract) was ingested as a curated subset on 2026-05-22 — see the [[psc/docket-25-054-u-cypress-2026-05-22/_overview|25-055-P production overview]]; the final SRC order has not been issued or retrieved. - The new docket **26-033-U** (Independent Monitor consolidation) — not yet ingested. ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Entergy Arkansas]] — applicant - [[Altitude Capital, LLC]] / [[Google LLC]] — the economic-development customer driving the project (named in Order No. 4) - [[Arkansas Public Service Commission]] — decisional authority; [[Doyle Webb]] (Chairman), [[Justin Tate]], [[Katie Anderson]] (signing Orders 4 and 5) - [[Karen Shook]] — Secretary of the Commission (Order No. 5) - Kristin R. Dalrymple — Business Operations and Strategy, EAL (sponsors the Altitude Capital linkage in direct testimony) - Kandice Fielder, [[Robert J. Fluth]], [[Michael T. Milton]], Brad T. Cullipher, Amy L. Morris, Bradley J. Phillips — EAL witnesses - [[APSC General Staff]] — Mark Herring, Thomas A. Martin, Jeffrey D. Bower - [[Office of the Arkansas Attorney General]] — Scott Norwood - [[Veritext Court Reporting]] — court reporter ## Concepts invoked - [[Arkansas Cypress]] - [[Strategic Investment]] — designated under § 23-4-1303(10)(C) (renewable resource) - [[Generating Arkansas Jobs Act (GAJA) rider]] - [[Special rate contract]] — companion proceeding in 25-055-P - CECPN — Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need - Independent Monitor (IM) oversight regime — consolidated into 26-033-U - Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) — to be retired on Google's behalf during the SRC term - MISO interconnection queue — Cypress bypasses it via transmission-right transfer ## Cross-references - [[GAJA Rider 2026 Annual Update]] — Cypress is one of the three Strategic Investment plants - [[26-001-U Doc 47 Volume 1 Application and Schedules A-B]] — Schedule B-8 CWIP includes $192,530 for "Arkansas Cypress Solar North"; Cypress depreciation rates also decided in the base rate case - [[Entergy CEO Direct Testimony]] — the $1.7B savings claim and the Altitude Capital identification originate here - [[Altitude Capital, LLC]] — the Google subsidiary on the West Memphis electric service agreement - [[Google LLC]] — the West Memphis "Project Pyramid" data-center site whose load Cypress Solar is built to support ## Open questions / follow-ups - **Docket 25-055-P** (the Altitude Capital Special Rate Contract) — ingested 2026-05-22 as a curated subset (see the [[psc/docket-25-054-u-cypress-2026-05-22/_overview|25-055-P production overview]]); the final SRC order is not yet issued or retrieved. - **Docket 26-033-U** (the consolidated Independent Monitor docket) — referenced; not yet ingested. - The full 316-page hearing transcript — held at 1000 Center Street, Little Rock, paid copy from Veritext. - Cypress Solar Application (Doc. 10) — too large for this session's retrieval; the Application substance is captured via Order No. 4's summary. - The MISO-queue-bypass mechanism — under what authority? Is the transfer of transmission rights from White Bluff coal to Cypress Solar a precedent for future data-center expedited interconnection? - RECs retired on behalf of Google during the SRC term — how many MWh annually, and what's the carbon-accounting implication for any green-energy claims by Google?