SRP to more than double utility scale solar to 2,025 megawatts by 2025

May 4, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
May 4, 2021

Salt River Project (SRP) on May 3 unveiled plans to more than double its 2025 utility-scale solar commitment to now add a total of 2,025 megawatts (MW) of new utility-scale solar energy to its power system by the end of fiscal year 2025, driven in part by dedicated customer demand for new renewables.

This is more than 1,000 MW beyond SRP’s original 2025 commitment of 1,000 MW announced in November 2018, the Arizona-based public power utility noted.

As part of this 1,025 MW solar increase, 450 MW is enabled by an SRP commercial customer to meet its renewable energy commitments. All the renewable energy purchased is expected to be from solar energy developments built in Arizona or on the Navajo Nation and will ultimately be used by SRP commercial and residential customers. 

SRP currently has 648 MW of utility-scale solar plants online or contracted and under development across the state and will add more than 1,375 MW of newly contracted solar power by 2025.

SRP recently contracted for the output from the Sonoran Energy Center, which will be the largest solar-charged battery project in the state, giving SRP one of the largest commitments to energy storage in the nation, it said.

The utility has also contracted for an additional large-scale solar and battery storage project at Pinal Central Solar Energy Center and is bringing online a new grid-charged battery storage project at Agua Fria Generating Station.

SRP’s latest solar field developments which came online in December 2020 include the 100 MW East Line Solar and the 100 MW Saint Solar. The two utility-scale solar fields serve commercial, municipal and educational customers who chose to participate in SRP’s Sustainable Energy Offering.

East Line Solar was built by developer sPower and is located in the town of Coolidge in Pinal County, Ariz., and solely serves Intel Corporation with 100 MW of renewable solar energy. Saint Solar was built by developer NextEra and is also located in Coolidge, Ariz., and customers currently receiving a portion of the 100 MW of renewable energy from this solar plant include Air Products, Albertsons Companies, Inc., City of Chandler, City of Mesa, City of Phoenix, CMC Steel Arizona, CyrusOne, Digital Realty, Freeport-McMoRan, Mesa Public Schools and Walmart.

Another utility-scale solar plant part of SRP’s Sustainable Energy Offering is Central Line Solar, a 100 MW solar field to soon be built by developer sPower in Eloy, Ariz., that will serve 21 SRP companies with renewable energy once the plant becomes operational in December this year.

Customers who will receive renewable energy from Central Line Solar include Apple, Inc., Arizona State University, Boeing, CenturyLink, Chandler Unified School District and Circle K Stores, among others.

SRP is already in the process of procuring the additional 1,025 MW of solar capacity from solar developers interested in building new generation resources in Arizona, it noted.