Salt River Project will develop 3 GW of new solar power to expand its system capacity and meet rising electricity demand in Arizona by 2035
It has selected NextEra Energy Resources to build the capacity under a 2024 request for proposals
The utility says it will provide low-cost electricity for customers and support grid reliability
Salt River Project (SRP), the Arizona, US-based not-for-profit public utility, will develop 3 GW of new solar PV generation in its territory to support its plan to more than double its power system capacity by 2035.
SRP’s current portfolio includes over 3 GW of carbon-free resources, comprising more than 1.5 GW of solar and 1.57 GW of battery storage supporting the grid, with additional solar and storage projects under development.
NextEra Energy Resources won the contract from SRP to build this capacity in a 2024 Request for Proposals (RFP) round.
Under an agreement with SRP, NextEra will construct 500 MW of solar PV capacity annually from 2029 to 2034. Once online, it will generate enough capacity to power 595,000 Arizona homes, according to SRP.
“This approach will allow us to collaborate early in the project development process to minimize project risk and ensure the best outcomes for our customers and the communities where we operate,” said SRP Associate General Manager and Chief Power System Executive Bobby Olsen.
SRP says this 3 GW of solar energy will deliver low-cost energy for its customers and bring online the new solar energy it needs at the pace required to meet increasing energy demand.
In April 2026, SRP announced commercial operations of its first self-owned and operated solar facility, the 55 MW Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center (CCERC) in Florence.
It will test 3 different types of solar panels, solar trackers, and inverters on-site to determine which combinations and individual technologies are most effective for long-term planning. Additionally, on-site sky cameras will capture images of the sky in real time to test a new method that can more accurately estimate cloud impact. It will help SRP improve forecasting for solar production, it added.
The 55 MW solar project is part of a larger integrated project that also hosts 99 MW of flexible natural gas turbines, a 69 kV substation, along with 2 long-duration energy storage (LDES) pilot projects. One will test CMBlu Energy’s Organic SolidFlow battery energy storage system (BESS), while the other will use ESS Tech’s Energy Base iron flow battery. Both battery systems are scheduled for completion by December 2027.