SRP updates sustainability goals with plans for reduced emissions, more EVs
Salt River Project says it has revised its sustainability goals to make them more ambitious.
The changes to SRP’s 2035 Sustainability Goals are part of a scheduled five-year update for the Tempe-based nonprofit utility since the previous goals were approved in 2019. SRP said the updates — to go into effect in May 2025 — reflect input from the public, cities, businesses, environmental organizations and others.
Among the revisions, Tempe-based SRP – that serves about a million customers, mainly in the Valley – said it aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions from generation by 82% from 2005 levels; deliver more than 4 million megawatt-hours of aggregate energy savings by 2035; support adoption of a million electric vehicles in the SRP service territory and manage 90% of EV charging by 2035; achieve 30% reduction in generation-related water use intensity from the 2005 baseline; and increase SRP’s leadership role in forest restoration, including support for thinning 800,000 acres by 2035.
Bobby Olsen, SRP’s associate general manager and chief planning, strategy and sustainability executive, said the company is in a position to be more ambitions about many of its sustainability goals.
“The goals incorporate sustainability into all aspects of our business and will lead us to further innovate, partner and challenge the status quo as we work to deliver reliable, affordable and sustainable water and power in one of the fastest-growing areas of the nation,” Olsen said in a statement. “We appreciate the many organizations, customers and individuals who took part in the process to share their perspectives and provide feedback on our 2035 Sustainability Goals to ensure they continue to meet the needs of our current and future customers.”
Solar industry representative: SRP can do more
Autumn Johnson, the executive director of the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association, in a statement to the Business Journal, said that the new goals are an improvement that more closely matches the results of SRP’s resource plan, but she said there are still shortcomings.
“SRP still has no mass-based carbon goal, no closure date for all coal, and no zero goal for carbon,” Johnson said. “Its sustainability goal is the weakest in the state, and its stakeholder process is the most limited. A 60% carbon reduction by 2035 is not consistent with climate science. We call on SRP to revisit these goals in short order and include AriSEIA and other interested stakeholders in future processes.”
SRP has signed on to a number of solar deals in the past year or so. In December, SRP signed an energy deal with Facebook owner Meta and clean energy provider Orsted to use most of the energy generated at a 300-megawatt solar farm and 300-megawatt four-hour battery energy storage system that is currently being built for SRP by Orsted in Pinal County. That facility is called the Eleven Mile Solar Center, which is east of Casa Grande and about halfway between Coolidge and Eloy.
Also in Pinal County, SRP is working on the solar generation facility at the Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center in Florence, southeast of Mesa. It will be able to generate up to 55 megawatts of solar energy, which is enough to power about 12,000 homes.
Last summer, SRP signed an agreement to purchase 394 megawatts of power from the CO Bar Solar project north of Flagstaff. That was on top of 400 megawatts that SRP already agreed months earlier to buy from the project. Those two deals mean the project will provide SRP enough energy to power about 180,000 typical homes.
That northern Arizona project, which will be the largest solar facility in the state, is expected to offset 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide each year.
Last fall, SRP CEO Jim Pratt said SRP expects to add 20,000 megawatts of capacity, which will be made up of 90% of renewable technologies.