HOPE – A first of its kind for public schools in southwest Arkansas will literally help turn on the lights for the Hope Public Schools on March 14 when the HPS Board of Education “flips the switch” on the district’s multi-million-dollar solar power array.

The event will be hosted by Entegrity Partners of Fayetteville for the HPS at 4 p.m. at the solar panel farm on acreage immediately across Lakeshore Drive from Clinton Primary School at 600 Lakeshore Drive.

The public is invited to the event.

The 1.13-megawatt AC solar array project by Entegrity Partners is part of a nine-component plan intended to reduce the district’s reliance upon commercially-generated electrical power as part of a mix of services and infrastructure improvements that are designed to cut district costs over time. Over time, the solar array is expected to offset more than 80 percent of the district’s electrical power consumption costs in conjunction with lighting, water conservation and HVAC improvements.

The Hope district is the first public school district in southwest Arkansas to build its own solar array. The $3 million-plus program is supported through Entegrity participation, cost savings in operations and an issue of second-lien district bonds.

The ceremony will be followed by the regular March school board meeting to be conducted in the Blevins Suite at Hempstead Hall on the University of Arkansas-Hope campus at 5:30 p.m.