The disclosure and our analysis
Evidence dates
Evidence: Entergy Arkansas news release, October 19, 2026; Entergy third quarter 2026 earnings release, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, November 2, 2026. Both read November 3, 2026. Status is as of November 2, 2026.
What Entergy disclosed
Entergy Arkansas describes the announcement as a second phase of its service to support Google's presence in West Memphis. It says the project will fulfill Google's plan for data center buildings on the site and accelerate the ramp-up of the original announced project. [Source 1]
Entergy lists these system resources, which it says require approximately $600 million in planned investment and a power purchase agreement, both covered by Google: [Source 1]
1. **Driver battery:** a 1,000 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system at Driver Solar near Osceola, expected online in 2028.
2. **Jones Mill battery:** a 400 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system near Hot Springs, expected online in 2028.
3. **Big Island solar contract:** a 440 megawatt (ac) solar power purchase agreement from the Big Island solar facility being built in Mississippi County. Entergy says this was added based on Arkansas Public Service Commission guidance from the initial filing of the resource.
4. **Delivery to the campus:** expansion of the Galet substation near West Memphis and two new 230 kV transmission lines to serve the expanded data center campus.
Entergy says Google is paying for the project under a new contract and that the new resources will not be charged through the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act Rider. [Source 1]
What the megawatt figures mean
The 440 MW is the AC rating of a solar supply contract. The 1,000 and 400 megawatt-hour figures are battery energy storage, not power. None of them is the data center's load, critical IT capacity or contracted demand. Entergy also says these resources, combined with the Arkansas Cypress Solar and Battery facility under construction in Jefferson County, will add over 1,000 megawatts of solar and 2,800 megawatt-hours of battery storage to its system. That combined figure is system supply, not campus capacity. [Source 1]
Economics, as Entergy describes them
Entergy says the second phase will bring at least $500 million in new customer savings starting in 2028 and extending over 20 years, on top of $1.6 billion identified for the first phase, and that the combined agreement is expected to return more than $2.1 billion to its 738,000 customers. These are the utility's projections. The reviewed sources do not show a Commission finding on them. [Source 1]
Status
On our status vocabulary, as of November 2, 2026: the second phase is Announced, and Proposed for regulatory review. Entergy says the expansion will be submitted to the Arkansas Public Service Commission for approval and that, pending approval, it expects service in 2028. The reviewed sources do not give a docket number or filing date. Nothing in them establishes construction, energization or capacity Available to other buyers on the campus. The campus is Google's own facility, not colocation inventory. [Source 1] [Source 2]
Buyer analysis
This is our analysis. The second phase signals that Google expects more load at West Memphis, sooner, than its original plan. Entergy does not give the new load in megawatts, so the size of the step up is not known from these sources.
For colocation buyers in the Memphis region, two points matter. First, new transmission and substation work for one large campus can take years and regulatory approval, and Entergy's own target here is 2028. Providers promising large new blocks nearby should be able to show where their power comes from and when. Second, the structure, where the hyperscaler funds the grid upgrades and supply under a separate contract, is becoming the norm for large loads. Smaller buyers should ask providers whether similar cost commitments sit behind their utility service, because those costs can show up in pricing and contract terms.
