SRP switches on solar energy storage system in Pinal County

ARIZONA NEWS

Oct 19, 2024, 6:35 PM

The Eleven Mile Solar Center, the largest solar-plus-battery storage project in SRP's history, was powered on in Pinal County on Oct. 11, 2024.

BY PAYNE MOSES

KTAR.com

PHOENIX — Salt River Project and Ørsted commemorated the Eleven Mile Solar Center, a solar-plus-battery energy storage system in Pinal County, on Oct. 11, according to a press release.

A $1 billion Ørsted investment in Arizona clean energy helped fund SRP’s largest solar and battery energy storage system project in its history. The solar center, which stores 300 megawatts of solar power and 300 megawatt/1200 megawatt-hour battery energy, will be generating power for businesses, homes and Meta’s data center in Mesa.

“Solar energy paired with battery energy storage will be critical to the reliable delivery of power as the demand for electricity grows,” David Hardy, Group EVP and CEO of Ørsted, said in a release. “With our first project in Arizona now complete, we’re thrilled to help meet the growing demand of the state and region with reliable, domestic energy.”

The new power center can produce enough energy to sustain 65,000 homes while storing 1200 megawatts-hour of power each day. It is also capable of generating $80 million in tax revenue to the surrounding community and has already created over 1,000 construction jobs centered around project maintenance.

“I am proud of our communities’ efforts to support this partnership between Ørsted and Salt River Project,” Eloy Mayor Micah Powell said in a release. “This energy project is a first of its kind in our region and will have a huge impact on energy reliability for our local area.”

The Eleven Mile Solar Center is now online with the ability to store 300 MW of power, making it our largest solar-plus-battery storage project to date. Expanding battery storage and solar generation projects helps us transition to a low carbon future. https://t.co/Kzjm0sB3ue

— Salt River Project (@SRPconnect) October 10, 2024

The implementation of the Eleven Mile Solar Center upped SRP’s statewide energy output to 3,000 megawatts — 1,400 megawatts being solar.

The company said its goal is to double its current number of energy generators in the next 10 years to keep up with energy demands.

“The energy and storage capacity provided by the Eleven Mile Solar System plays an important role in helping meet SRP’s ambitious decarbonization goals while providing affordable and reliable energy to our customers,” Bobby Olsen, strategy and sustainability executive at SRP, said in a release. “We appreciate our partnership with Ørsted and Meta to bring more clean energy to our customers.”

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