Salt River Project board votes to increase its share of Palo Verde nuclear plant with $70M purchase
Salt River Project will pay about $70 million to increase its stake in the Palo Verde Generating Station nuclear plant west of Phoenix, the utility said Monday.
The plant is owned by seven utilities from Texas to California, and Public Service Co. of New Mexico is selling a share of the plant to make way for more renewable energy, that utility previously announced.
SRP managers said the additional nuclear power, as well as purchasing the associated share of the nuclear fuel inventory and transmission-line access for the power, would help the utility meet its clean-energy goals.
SRP plans to reduce carbon dioxide emitted by power plants by 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2050. As a public utility, SRP is not subject to the new clean-energy rules passed by the Arizona Corporation Commission.
“The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is a high-capacity resource that is well managed and extremely reliable,” said SRP CEO and General Manager Mike Hummel in a prepared statement after the vote. “The opportunity to economically add this baseload, zero-carbon emitting energy resource to our portfolio will benefit our customers for years to come.”
As part of its clean-energy efforts, SRP is adding 1,000 MW of solar energy by 2025 as well as new large-scale battery storage projects in Pinal County and the West Valley.
