South Arkansas Telephone in Hampton on Friday installed its new nine-panel solar array, which is expected to generate roughly 9,600 Kwh annually or enough to power the average residential home for a year.
The array is from Helical Solar of Leander, Texas, which received a federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant to develop a low-cost, utility installed, dual-axis solar system for rural applications including homeowners, businesses, and farms. The project was completed with assistance from Ouachita Electric Cooperative.
Helical also received a follow-on Phase II SBIR Assistance Agreement to continue the development of its patent-pending system and enter into pilots with rural cooperatives such as OECC and its innovative PAYS tariff-on-bill program to increase access to rural solar.
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