SRP has unveiled its largest combined solar and battery-storage site.

Oct 14, 2024

The Salt River Project and a Danish renewable-energy company, ∅rsted, have launched a new solar and battery-storage complex in Pinal County, the largest combined operation of its type in the utility's power system.

The new Eleven Mile Solar Center spread across Coolidge and Eloy combines 300 megawatts of solar generation and batteries capable of storing four times that much power.

The goal is to generate more power than is needed during morning and early afternoon hours for release during higher-demand hours in the late afternoon and early evening. The facility will provide enough electricity for more than 65,000 average-sized homes, though power also will be sent to businesses and Meta’s data center in Mesa.

Tempe-based SRP recently unveiled a wind-generation complex near Flagstaff. The power from that project will be allocated entirely to a Google data center, also in Mesa. Metro Phoenix has one of the largest concentrations of data centers in the Western Hemisphere.

“Solar energy paired with battery energy storage will be critical to the reliable delivery of power as the demand for electricity grows,” said David Hardy, a group executive vice president and CEO of ∅rsted's Americas division. “Arizona has one of the highest growth rates of electricity in the country due to the surge in data centers and the reshoring of American manufacturing.”

This is the company’s first Arizona project, which can store 1,200 megawatts of power daily. ∅rsted invested roughly $1 billion in the facility, which will generate $80 million in local tax revenue over the project's expected 35-year life.

The project also created more than 1,000 construction jobs in the area, and ∅rsted bought panels, batteries and other equipment from Tempe-based First Solar and other suppliers.

Eloy Mayor Micah Powell called it the first energy project of its kind in the region.

With the addition of Eleven Mile, SRP has nearly 3,000 megawatts of carbon-free energy, including more than 1,400 megawatts of solar, to serve customers. SRP also has nearly 1,300 megawatts of battery and pumped hydro storage supporting its grid. The utility is working to expand generating sources over the next 10 years to meet rising energy needs and to replace 1,300 megawatts of power currently generated by coal but slated for retirement.

“The energy and storage capacity provided by the Eleven Mile Solar (Center) plays an important role in helping meet SRP’s ambitious decarbonization goals while providing affordable and reliable energy to our customers,” said Bobby Olsen, an SRP associate general manager with oversight for planning, strategy and oversight.

SRP supplies electricity to 1.1 million customers around metro Phoenix and provides water to roughly half of all Valley residents. ∅rsted now generates more than 5,000 megawatts of power across the United States from wind and solar farms, battery-storage facilities and bioenergy plants.

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