21 Businesses, Cities and Schools/Higher Education Organizations Began Receiving Utility-Scale Solar from SRP

At an unveiling event this Wednesday, SRP recognized 21 large customers now receiving renewable energy from the newly operational 100-megawatt (MW) Central Line Solar plant. These customers are from various industries including commercial, technology, retail, municipal, education and healthcare.

The Central Line Solar plant, located within both Eloy and Coolidge, AZ, is a new solar facility developed as part of SRP’s second phase of its Sustainable Energy Offering. With this offering, SRP customers chose to power a portion of their facilities with carbon-free energy while sharing the economic benefits of a utility-scale, renewable energy resource.

“When we speak with leaders at large businesses and employers with facilities in Arizona they have a clear, shared goal of decreasing carbon emissions from operations,” said SRP General Manager and CEO Mike Hummel. “The solar resources from this program create a major reduction in CO2 and that is something all our partners agree is the best way forward.”

Customers receiving energy from the Central Line Solar facility are: Apple, Inc., Arizona State University, Boeing, Chandler Unified School District, Circle K Stores Inc., City of Tempe, Cox Communications, Dignity Health, General Dynamics Missions Systems, Gilbert Public Schools, Lumen Technologies, Macerich Company, MATHESON, PepsiCo, Resolution Copper Mining, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Target Corporation, Town of Gilbert, United Dairymen of Arizona, Verizon Communications Inc., and Wells Fargo Bank.

Central Line Solar is owned and operated by The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) and is the second project developed by AES to serve SRP’s Sustainable Energy Offering. The East Line and Central Line projects total 200 MW of renewable energy. AES’ Central Line facility is expected to generate approximately $15 million in property tax revenue to the Pinal County area over the life of the project. The project created approximately 170 local, well-paying jobs during the construction phase.

“Leading organizations of all kinds are seeking clean energy solutions to support their decarbonization and sustainability commitments today and into the future, and SRP is an innovator in meeting those demands,” said Leo Moreno, AES Clean Energy President. “Together with SRP, we are proud to operationalize the Central Line Solar facility as part of SRP’s Sustainable Energy Offering.”

SRP has made a commitment to developing programs like the Sustainable Energy Offering and others to partner with large customers who have sustainability goals to reduce carbon emissions on a grand scale. Participants of SRP’s Offering continue to express ongoing interest in investing in clean, renewable energy in Arizona. SRP develops these programs to be responsive to customers’ evolving clean-energy objectives, which in turn, has helped accelerate utility-scale green energy on SRP’s grid. SRP is on track to reach its expanded pledge to add 2,025 MW of new utility-scale solar energy to its renewable portfolio by 2025. In the same timeframe, nearly half of all retail energy delivered to SRP customers will be from zero-carbon resources.

In total, SRP’s Sustainable Energy Offering is now delivering solar energy to 33 companies and municipalities across 19 diverse industries. The first phase of the offering was initially announced in 2018. Central Line Solar is the last of three 100-MW solar plants constructed under this program, which at peak production, is enough combined energy to power approximately 67,500 average homes. The three solar facilities will jointly create a reduction in CO2 emissions by about 1.6 million tons, which is equivalent to the amount produced by more than 300,000 passenger cars driven in a year.