SRP has a plan to meet rising power demand. Here’s how
Salt River Project wants to develop a new 1,675-megawatt energy generation hub as power demand continues to grow statewide.
The proposed site — called the Marigold Energy Center — would include solar arrays, battery storage and natural gas turbines. Officials hope to put it on approximately 5,000 acres of land near Stanfield, located about 45 miles south of Phoenix.
The utility, which serves electric to about 1.1 million customers, has long eyed that area as a potential home for new generation infrastructure. Bill McClellan, director of resource planning, acquisition and development at SRP, said several transmission lines and gas pipelines already run near or through the site, making it easier to connect various types of energy resources.
“It can host solar, storage and also natural gas resources — and one of the reasons for that is it’s got the existing infrastructure there to be able to support those different types of generation,” he said.
He said much of the site would be devoted to utility-scale solar, which is generally considered a land-intensive form of energy generation. The utility will pair that with lithium-ion batteries, which store energy and then deploy it during periods of high power demand. McClellan said he hopes to configure the site such that those batteries could also charge from the broader energy grid.
Both of those resources would come online by the end of the decade. McClellan said SRP would have to add a new substation and short transmission line to get them up and running.
Later, the utility would also seek to add natural gas units at the proposed hub. McClellan said that would require a new lateral line connecting the turbines to one of the gas pipelines that run near the proposed energy center. He said that work could be completed by the mid-2030s.
Utility officials don’t yet have a cost estimate for the new center and its associated infrastructure. But McClellan said it is economical to put several types of generation at the hub.
“It makes a lot of sense to bring the different generating resources together at the same site because you’re able to take advantage of the additional infrastructure that you will need to interconnect into the power system,” McClellan said. “One of the benefits of putting them all in proximity to each other is they can share some of the upgraded infrastructure, which helps with reducing some of the cost of the project.”
Why is Arizona’s energy demand rising?
The utility’s proposal comes as it forecasts its energy needs growing rapidly over the next decade — part of a national trend of surging power demand.
Locally, the phenomenon being driven by continued population growth, hotter summers, the arrival of data centers and the rise of advanced manufacturing.
In recent years, it has sent utilities’ summer peaks higher and higher. SRP most recently reported an energy demand record of 8,542 megawatts between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Aug. 7. It marked the third consecutive year that it saw unprecedented demand — and the third time last summer that a new record was set.
“It really works with the rest of our system to provide reliable, affordable energy for all customers,” he said.
What’s next for the project?
SRP still needs to jump through some administrative and regulatory hoops before it can start work on its proposed center.
For starters, its Board of Directors has yet to approve the project. McClellan said he anticipates bringing the pitch to them next summer.
The utility would also need an environmental certificate from state regulators to build out a new transmission line, and additional certificates and air quality permits to put natural gas units at the site.
And, it could find itself subject to local zoning processes. Several pieces of land that would be part of the proposed hub appear to be currently zoned for rural uses or residential development, which wouldn’t allow any energy generation.
That could quickly turn into a fight in Pinal County, where local officials have turned down several zoning requests for utility-scale solar and battery projects in recent months. Utilities across the state are increasingly seeing community backlash to new energy generation projects.
For now, SRP is launching a public engagement process. It plans to host a slew of informational meetings about the proposal in coming months, and gather community feedback.
McClellan said it is also working “very closely” with a nearby electric utility to determine if the new center could also benefit locals.
SRP’s service territory covers much of metro Phoenix, but not Stanfield or Maricopa. Those areas are served by Electrical District 3, a small, not-for-profit utility that he said could potentially take some power off of the proposed hub.