NextEra Energy Resources, Salt River Project announce opening of integrated solar, battery plant

NextEra Energy Resources and Salt River Project (SRP) announced Wednesday the opening of Pinal Central Solar Energy Center (PCSEC), located on 257 acres of land east of Casa Grande, Arizona.

The facility is the largest utility-scale solar energy center paired with a battery storage system in Arizona.

The 20-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic generation facility consists of 258,000 solar panels and includes a 10 MW lithium-ion battery storage system.

A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources will own and operate the facility, and SRP will purchase all of the energy it produces.

“We are delighted to work with SRP to bring this innovative solar and energy storage facility online and deliver unprecedented value to its customers,” Matt Handel, vice president of renewable development for NextEra Energy Resources, said. “The project also brings significant economic benefit to the region, creating jobs and providing additional tax revenue to the communities that host it.”

PCSEC is the first of three grid-scale battery storage projects scheduled to connect to SRP’s system.

“The project’s design allows SRP to utilize solar and battery storage together to optimize clean energy output to benefit our customers,” SRP General Manager and CEO Mike Hummel said. “In addition, the plant will assist SRP in meeting our goals for renewable energy while reducing carbon emissions.”

The SRP Board has set a target of meeting 20 percent of SRP’s retail electricity requirements through sustainable resources by 2020. SRP also set a goal of reducing the amount of carbon emitted per megawatt-hour by 33 percent by 2035.