West Line Solar Now Delivering Energy to Meta and SRP Residential and Small Business Customers
SRP, Meta and AES unveiled 100-MW West Line Solar
At an unveiling event last week, SRP, Meta, The AES Corporation and officials from Pinal County and Eloy, AZ, recognized and toured the newly operational 100-megawatt (MW) West Line Solar facility. Half of the clean energy output from the plant is dedicated towards Meta’s future data center in Mesa. The other 50 MW of energy from the facility is dedicated to residential and small business customers enrolled in SRP Solar Choice.
The West Line Solar plant, located in Eloy, is a new solar facility developed to strategically support growth in the Valley with clean energy. The 2.5 million square foot Meta data center in Mesa is under construction and is expected to start serving online traffic next year.
“We appreciate the partnership of SRP and AES in helping us bring new renewable energy to the grid in Arizona,” said David Williams, community development manager at Meta. “We are excited to see this new solar project come online in support of our operations and the local community.”
AES is the owner and operator of West Line Solar, which is the company’s third solar project in the Pinal County area developed to serve SRP customers. The East Line, Central Line and West Line Solar projects total 300 MW of renewable energy, much of which is dedicated to serve the growing demand for more sustainable resources by SRP business customers and community-based customers of all sizes and industries. These customers include municipalities, healthcare organizations, technology companies, higher education, school districts and more.
“Meta as well as SRP small and mid-size customers have impressive goals towards decreasing carbon emissions as part of developing a low-carbon future,” said Jim Pratt, SRP’s Chief Customer Executive. “West Line Solar is an example of like-minded organizations coming together to take another notable step towards powering Arizona’s growth with clean energy.”
AES’ West Line facility is expected to generate approximately $16.7 million in property tax revenue to the Pinal County area over the life of the project. The project created approximately 240 local, well-paying jobs during the construction phase.
“West Line Solar is the third utility-scale solar project we have brought online in the last two years to help SRP’s customers access the benefits from reliable, cost competitive solar energy in Arizona,” said AES Clean Energy President Leo Moreno. “AES is delighted to partner with visionary companies such as Meta and SRP that share our commitment to building a cleaner, smarter energy future.”
Customers enrolled in SRP’s Solar Choice program offset their monthly energy use from enrolled customers’ homes or businesses with clean energy from SRP’s growing portfolio of utility-scale solar plants around the state. Choosing to participate in this program supports lowering Arizona’s carbon emissions, and grows local demand for renewable energy. To learn more about the SRP Solar Choice program or enroll online, customers can visit SRP.net/solar-choice.
As part of its sustainability commitments, SRP will be installing over 2,025 MW of solar by 2025 and has more planned beyond that, enough to power more than 450,000 average-size homes. SRP also has among the largest utility-scale battery investments in the Western U.S. with over 800 MW of battery storage projects that will be online by 2024. SRP will continue to develop and deploy evolving renewable and storage technologies safely and cost-effectively as part of the utility’s commitment to reducing carbon intensity (from 2005 levels) by more than 65 percent by 2035 and 90 percent by 2050.
About AES
The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) is a Fortune 500 global energy company accelerating the future of energy. Together with our many stakeholders, we're improving lives by delivering the greener, smarter energy solutions the world needs. Our diverse workforce is committed to continuous innovation and operational excellence, while partnering with our customers on their strategic energy transitions and continuing to meet their energy needs today. Learn more at www.aes.com
SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest electricity provider in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving approximately 1.1 million customers. SRP provides water to about half of the Valley’s residents, delivering more than 244 billion gallons of water (750,000 acre-feet) each year, and manages a 13,000-square-mile watershed that includes an extensive system of reservoirs, wells, canals and irrigation laterals.