GUM SPRINGS, Arkansas — On a chilly Monday afternoon, officials broke ground on a solar farm that, come 2024, is expected to produce enough electricity to power much of Veolia North America’s hazardous waste treatment facility in Clark County.

This summer the company cleared 38 acres of timberland south of the Gum Springs plant on Arkansas Highway 26. The cleared area will be home to a farm of more than 11,000 solar panels, capable of producing 5 megawatts of electricity per day. Coupled with a steam turbine incinerator, a total of 13 megawatts will power the plant and aid the company in becoming a Net Zero Energy facility.

The solar farm should be complete and delivering power to Veolia by the third quarter of 2024, just ahead of the completion of a plant expansion that includes a massive steel kiln and a pair of air scrubbers.