SRP Starts Work on Arizona’s Largest Standalone Battery Project in This Metro Phoenix City

Article originally posted on AZ Central on April 13, 2023

Salt River Project and a Texas company are collaborating on a new battery storage project in Avondale that will help supply electricity at peak times such as early evening hours during the summer. Eventually, much of the power stored there likely will come from solar sources.

SRP and Houston-based Plus Power LLC, joined by officials from Avondale, held a ceremonial groundbreaking at the previously announced battery facility Wednesday. The new Sierra Estrella energy storage facility will hold electricity produced during low-use periods and release it when demand is higher, helping to power more than 56,000 average-sized homes for a four-hour period.

A subsidiary of Plus Power will own Sierra Estrella, but SRP staff will decide when during the day to release energy from the 250-megawatt storage system onto SRP’s grid.

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SRP’s Gradual Shift to Solar Power

The 11-acre facility adjacent to an SRP substation will be the largest standalone battery-storage facility in Arizona, meaning one that doesn’t also have solar panels or other power-generating infrastructure on site, said Grant Smedley, SRP’s director of resource planning.

Initially, power on the electric grid from various sources will charge the batteries. However, the plan is for solar to account for a growing proportion of energy stored at Sierra Estrella as SRP adds more solar-generating capacity, he said.

The collaboration also will provide SRP staff with more experience dealing with battery-storage systems, Smedley added.

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In addition to Sierra Estrella, SRP, the not-for-profit power and water provider, and Plus Power also are cooperating to develop a smaller, 90 megawatt energy storage facility named Superstition Energy Storage in Gilbert. Both the Sierra Estrella and Gilbert facilities are scheduled to go online by the summer of 2024.

Together with other projects, including three opening this summer, SRP expects battery-storage facilities to supply more than 10% of its peak-hours electricity demand by 2024, equivalent to around what’s needed for 180,000 homes.

Using Tesla Battery Technology

Plus Power will design, build, and operate the energy-storage project, which will use Tesla lithium-ion technology with batteries made in the U.S. SRP hasn’t released cost details for the contract, but the collaboration is set to run for 20 years, Smedley said.

The projects will be developed under updated national codes and standards for energy storage systems that incorporate lessons learned from fires at other battery facilities. Plus Power said it plans to work closely with the Avondale Fire Department to prepare a thorough Emergency Response Plan and conduct onsite training for first responders in the area.

With low vehicular traffic and minimal municipal services required, the Sierra Estrella facility is expected to have little impact on homes or businesses in the surrounding area.