Salt River Project has invested $3 million in 34 research and development projects with Arizona’s three largest public universities – Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona – as part of an ongoing effort to support reliable power and water delivery to SRP customers. Every project awarded funding by SRP was assessed for alignment with SRP’s strategic objectives and company goals.
The projects, which are at various stages of research and development, span topics including sustainability, power reliability, wildfire mitigation and energy efficiency. SRP has invested in university research at Arizona universities for more than 40 years and has been able to implement findings from these projects into its business operations.
A multi-year project with NAU resulted in the development of a tool that maps wildfire risk across SRP’s watershed. SRP is actively using the tool to inform its forest restoration work and help protect the Valley’s water and power infrastructure.
Additionally, a project with ASU developed a platform to scan satellite images of SRP’s canals and detect potential leak sites. After proving success, an adjacent effort to do the same for SRP’s underground pipelines is underway.
“SRP has participated in this program for more than four decades, and each year, our teams are able to examine important topics through a new lens and work toward innovative solutions to problems facing both the water and power sides of our business,” said Chico Hunter, Innovation and Development Manager, SRP. “The partnership with these universities allows SRP to foster students’ interest in the work we do through real-world research opportunities and enhance community involvement that is so important to SRP.”
Each project proposal is evaluated by SRP project advisors, as well as management and internal subject matter experts from across the company. SRP will work on 22 projects with ASU, 4 projects with NAU, and 8 projects with U of A.
SRP and ASU are developing a high-resolution groundwater monitoring product using satellite observations, machine learning, and hydroclimatic and land surface data. Once the data is analyzed, it will support SRP and other water stewards of Arizona improve regional groundwater assessment and identify depletion hotspots to better determine system planning and support water resiliency efforts across the watershed and beyond.
SRP and U of A’s Power Forecasting Group are working to develop a comprehensive weather-based dataset to support real-time forecasting for water, power and fire weather applications across Arizona. This will strengthen planning for critical programs like Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) and will enable broader improvements across weather-sensitive programs at SRP that will ultimately boost reliability for customers.
This project, in partnership with ASU, will help identify best practices for energy efficiency projects in K-12 schools to increase school district engagement, and education of school facility managers in energy efficiency. By engaging in customer demand response programs, SRP and ASU hope to help K-12 schools reduce their energy costs, understand their role in grid support and learn best practices to support sustainability goals across the Valley.
