The Arizona power grid has a unique set of challenges, which it turns out solar and energy storage are particularly well suited to address.
Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest investor-owned utility, announced Thursday morning that it will add 850 megawatts of battery storage and at least 100 megawatts of solar generation by 2025. That amounts to nearly 1 gigawatt of new clean energy technology, to be obtained through a combination of newly completed and upcoming procurements.
The plan includes outfitting existing utility-owned solar projects with 200 megawatts of batteries, deploying 500 megawatts of new battery resources, and contracting for 150 megawatts of third-party-owned storage — the last of which beat out new-build natural gas peakers in an request for proposals that just concluded.
This work builds on the dispatchable solar project APS is building with First Solar, which is scheduled for completion in 2021. Factoring in the 50-megawatt battery and 65-megawatt solar power plant included in that system, that brings APS’ recently announced contracts for new clean energy resources to more than 1 gigawatt.
“We were really excited last year when we were able to do a peaking solar plant with First Solar,” said Brad Albert, vice president of resource management for APS, in an interview. “So we were hopeful and had our fingers crossed that the pricing would continue to decline and the performance would improve — and that’s bearing out.”
“We feel very strongly that coupling up solar and battery storage technology, especially as it continues to decline in price and become more attractive as a resource for our customers, is a very powerful combination,” he said. “It helps to meet our critical customer needs with clean energy resources. That’s why we feel so good about being able to forge a path in this direction today.”
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