The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) approved an amended Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) for the Coolidge Expansion Project, a flexible, fast-ramping natural gas plant that will help Salt River Project (SRP) cost-effectively and reliably meet the region’s growing energy needs as the utility works to add more solar, wind and storage resources.
The amended CEC was made possible, in part, due to the recent settlement between SRP and the Randolph parties. In that settlement, SRP agreed to additional mitigation efforts and to provide additional financial support to assist the Randolph community.
"We are grateful to the Randolph community for the opportunity to listen to and address their concerns regarding the Coolidge Expansion Project," said Bobby Olsen, SRP Associate General Manager and Chief Planning, Strategy and Sustainability Executive. "SRP looks forward to working with the community to follow through on the commitments we’ve made."
With today’s decision, SRP will implement the following mitigation and support measures after construction starts on the Coolidge Expansion Project:
- SRP will reduce the number of generation units for the expansion from 16 to 12, slightly move the location of the new units to make them less visible to the community and agree to limit the operational use of the new Coolidge Generating Station units to 30% capacity factor.
- SRP will provide significant funding towards the construction and operations of a Randolph Community Center.
- SRP will provide significant funding for community support in the form of a K-12 mentoring program and for preparation and implementation of a community development plan.
- SRP will add additional air quality measures including further road paving to offset dust in the area.SRP will provide significant funding for the design and construction of community markers.
- SRP will provide significant funding for educational and recreational activities for families in Randolph.
- SRP will double the amount of funding for the scholarship and job training programs for Randolph residents and their descendants.
- SRP will significantly fund a home rehabilitation program to upgrade homes in Randolph.
As part of earlier proceedings, SRP agreed to a number of mitigation efforts for Randolph, regardless of the CEC being granted, including:
- Scholarship program up to $100,000 per year (totaling $2 million over 20 years) for residents of Randolph and their descendants.
- Job training program up to $100,000 per year (totaling $2 million over 20 years) for residents of Randolph and their descendants.
- Fund the preparation of a nomination for the National Register of Historic Places.
- Hire a grant writing firm to provide support for access to federal and state grants. The firm will provide training and prepare grant applications.
- Visual screening and community landscaping.
- Road paving to reduce dust in the area.
SRP has been working with the Randolph community and Pinal County on these earlier commitments.
"SRP must continue to provide reliable power to its customers now and in the future as we respond to dramatic load growth in the state of Arizona. Flexible, fast ramping generation is critical to meet this obligation," Olsen said. "The Coolidge Expansion Project both supports that reliability mission and will enable additional solar, wind and other renewables to be part of our system."
The 575-megawatt Coolidge Expansion Project will provide enough energy to serve more than 139,000 average homes at once and support the integration of solar, wind and storage resources. Like all of SRP’s generation facilities, it will comply with all local, state and federal air quality regulations which are protective of human health and the environment.
SRP customers are already benefitting from new solar and battery resources that have recently come online - part of a commitment to add 2,025 megawatts of solar and wind generation and 1,100 megawatts of batteries, enough to power nearly half a million homes by 2025 - while paying some of the lowest energy costs in the West. With these and other strategic resource additions, more than 75% of energy delivered to SRP customers will come from carbon-free resources by 2035.
