Salt River Project Ranked #5 Nationally for Energy Storage
Ranked in Top 10 for Utilities, According to Smart Electric Power Alliance
Salt River Project has been named as one of a select group of utilities that connected the most energy storage capacity to the grid in 2018, earning it a spot on the annual Top 10 utility industry list compiled by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA).
In survey results, SRP ranked No. 5 nationally on the utility energy storage list, with 44.5 megawatt-hours (MWh) installed in 2018.
The 44.5 MWH of energy storage consists of:
- 40 MWH installed at the Pinal Central Energy Center, a utility-scale, integrated solar plant equipped with a battery system that will store energy and enable SRP to provide clean energy to customers when usage is at its highest and needed most. SRP purchases all of the energy produced at the plant, which is owned and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources.
- 4.5 MWH of residential energy storage installed at customer homes behind the meter at more than 400 homes. Qualified residential customers may be eligible for a rebate from the SRP Battery Storage Incentive.
Solar generation starts to ramp down in the late afternoon when SRP customers are typically using energy at the highest level. With an energy storage system, the stored energy will be available to customers during that critical time.
“Investing in energy storage technology allows us to utilize solar and battery storage to optimize clean energy output that benefits our customers,” said Scott Scharli, SRP Manager of Distributed Energy Programs. “It’s also an opportunity for SRP to learn more about the role energy storage can play to better serve our customers in an industry that continues to face dynamic changes.”
The 12th Annual Utility Market Survey collected figures from over 500 utilities across the country.
The full Top 10 listings are available online at https://sepapower.org/2019-top-10-winners/
“The utilities in the Top 10 are truly spearheading the progress we’ve seen in the electric sector this past year,” said Julia Hamm, SEPA’s President and CEO. “It goes beyond just energy storage - they are implementing replicable business models and paving the way to a clean and modern energy future, something that won’t be possible without utilities’ leadership and cooperation.”
To learn more about the Energy Storage Top 10 Rankings, please contact Jordan Nachbar, JNachbar@sepapower.org or 202-559-2034.
SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest provider of electricity in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving more than 1 million customers. SRP is also the metropolitan area’s largest supplier of water, delivering about 800,000 acre-feet annually to municipal, urban and agricultural water users.
