Greater Baton Rouge Business Report
McDonald’s Corp. and eBay Inc. today announced agreements with Lightsource bp to purchase power from Louisiana’s largest proposed solar farm, located 30 miles northwest of Baton Rouge in Ventress.
The 345-megawatt Ventress solar project is being managed by Lightsource, the solar arm of BP. Both companies say the agreements will help the firms meet their sustainability goals, and the corporate agreements are one more step in getting the solar farm completed.
Once complete, the 1,800-acre solar farm will generate more than 600,000 megawatt-hours of energy annually, equivalent to the average annual consumption of 59,000 U.S. homes, according to Lightsource bp.
Construction on the $300 million privately funded Ventress project is expected to begin as early as the end of this year, with commercial operation starting in mid-2023. The solar farm’s construction is expected to create 400 construction jobs and an indirect economic impact of more than $200 million according to a study from the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. See the announcement.