Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Energy
SRP, NextEra celebrate completion of northern Arizona wind farm
Power from Babbitt Ranch project dedicated to Google
Babbitt Ranch Energy Center is now open, producing power for SRP. (Provided by SRP)
Officials from SRP, NextEra Energy, Babbitt Ranch and northern Arizona cut the ribbon on the Babbitt Ranch Energy Center this week. (NextEra Energy)
Posted
Independent Newsmedia
A new 161-megawatt wind project in Coconino County north of Flagstaff has been completed and will be providing energy to Salt River Project.
SRP, the project’s developer NextEra Energy Resources LLC, the Arizona State Land Department and Babbitt Ranches celebrated the completion of the project this week.
Babbitt Ranch Energy Center will play a role in decarbonizing SRP’s energy portfolio while the company works to meet the energy needs of one of the fastest growing areas of the nation, officials said in a press release. Energy generated at the plant will be bought by tech giant Google for its future Mesa data center.
Babbitt Ranch Energy Center features 50 turbines. A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources built and owns the project and will oversee operations.
“A diversified resource mix is essential to achieving our carbon reduction goals while supporting our customers energy needs with reliable and affordable power,” said Bobby Olsen, Chief Planning, Strategy and Sustainability Officer at SRP.
Babbitt Ranch Energy Center will generate about $9.5 million in additional tax revenue to the Coconino County area over the facility’s lifespan.
“The Babbitt Ranch Energy Center will generate low-cost, homegrown energy and provide millions of dollars in additional revenue to Coconino County over the life of the project,” said JD Rulien, executive director at NextEra Energy Resources, the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun, as well as a world leader in battery energy storage.
Google is also receiving energy from Sonoran Solar Energy Center, a 260 MW solar facility with a 1 gigawatt-hour battery energy storage system located in Buckeye and Storey Energy Center, an 88 MW solar and battery energy storage system located in Coolidge. These facilities support SRP’s transition to clean energy and are owned and operated by subsidiaries of NextEra Energy Resources.
Babbitt Ranches is one of the longest-running land companies in the West and has been exploring renewable energy viability in Northern Arizona since 2005, such as measuring wind speeds and conducting solar power evaluations.
“It has been an extraordinary journey for Babbitt Ranches as we’ve explored the opportunities for clean earth energy in Northern Arizona for more than two decades,” said President and General Manager Billy Cordasco, on behalf of the Babbitt Ranches Community.
SRP was the first Arizona utility to add wind power to its energy resource mix and still receives all energy output from the 127-megawatt Dry Lake Wind Power Project, the first large-scale wind power facility built in the state.
