Salt River Project on Nov. 15 unveiled plans to add 1,000 megawatts of new utility-scale solar energy to its system by the end of fiscal year 2025.
SRP said the plan will accelerate both the pace and total capacity of SRP’s current solar energy resource plans by 700 MW compared to current resource plans during the same timeframe.
SRP CEO and General Manager Mike Hummel said that the costs for solar energy continue to decrease, making this the right time to increase investments. In addition, a recent study has determined that SRP’s grid is prepared to reliably handle the addition of 1,000 MW of solar power.
“Over the past several months, we have had discussions with residential customers and many of our larger commercial, industrial and municipal customers regarding their needs for sustainable resources,” said Hummel. “Several customers have asked us to work with them on providing resource options that help them achieve their goals. This proposal is a foundational part of providing programs that bring increased value to our customers while partnering with them to achieve mutually desired renewable energy goals.”
SRP said it will add approximately 200 MW of new solar annually through 2025, which it said will allow for careful analysis of the impact to the reliability of SRP’s electrical grid and provide valuable operational experience.
SRP will examine programs to allocate the new solar capacity to various customer groups, including community solar for residential customers.
The addition of 1,000 MW of solar energy is expected to reduce SRP’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 5.2 million tons.
According to Hummel, SRP will focus on strategic locations for the new solar capacity that will provide maximum efficiencies and reliability benefits while best meeting customer growth.
The 1,000 MW of solar energy SRP will add by 2025 is in addition to SRP’s 200 MW of existing solar resources that include several large-scale Valley-based solar energy facilities, more than 50 MW of solar on Navajo land, a 20-MW solar/10-MW battery storage power plant located in Pinal County, and 25 MW and 10 MW battery storage facilities in development in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
By the end of FY 2025, SRP will have a total of more than 1,200 MW of solar energy capacity and will be looking to install additional battery capacity to complement the solar energy, Hummel said.
