AEPCO & SSVEC Solar Project to Power 54,000 Homes
By Eric Petermann
Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO) has received board approval to develop a new solar project. The project will have a capacity of up to 294 megawatts, and a battery storage facility with a capacity of up to 940 megawatt hours, at the Apache Power Generating Station in Cochise County.
Also known as the Apache Solar II project, it will be AEPCO’s largest renewable project developed for the benefit of its rural electric distribution cooperatives and public power members. It will provide enough energy to power approximately 54,000 homes.
AEPCO and its Apache Power Generating Station in Cochise is the primary source of electric power for Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative (SSVEC) and five other electric cooperatives throughout Arizona.
“We’re excited to add this cost-effective renewable generation to our portfolio,” says Patrick Ledger, AEPCO executive vice president and CEO. “As a not-for-profit cooperative, we work with our member-owners and their boards and managers to ensure that investments in new resources are prudently made.
“Our objective is to provide affordable and reliable power, not to make a profit. The Apache Solar II project demonstrates the advantage of smaller utilities coming together on a larger project to take advantage of economies of scale and substantially reduce costs for all participants and their electric consumers at the end of the line.”
AEPCO’s electric cooperatives and public utility members serve several disadvantaged communities in the state.
“So we also hope to take advantage of direct-pay tax incentives, as well as new federal grants under the Rural Utilities Services New ERA grants program, that could help further decrease the cost of the project, providing a truly competitive source of carbon-free power for the first time,” Ledger says.
In addition to solar power, AEPCO’s Apache Solar II will provide each participating cooperative and utility member the ability to store solar energy in a four-hour battery energy storage system with the flexibility to dispatch the batteries to meet the unique needs of each member’s service territory.
The Apache Solar II project is completing siting, design and permitting over the next several months. The project could be operational as soon as summer 2025.
AEPCO’s board of directors approved entering into an agreement in October 2023, with Roadrunner Solar LLC and Roadrunner Storage LLC—affiliates of Clenera, LLC—to develop the solar project.
