Salt River Project has set a new record for the amount of energy delivered to its retail customers. On Sunday, Aug. 4, between 5 and 6 p.m., SRP delivered its highest system peak of 8,219 megawatts (MW). One megawatt is enough energy to power about 225 average homes.
This surpasses the previous system peak record of 8,163 MW set on July 18, 2024, between 4 and 5 p.m.
Strong customer demand is the result of several factors, including extreme daytime temperatures, higher overnight temperatures and an increase in the number of SRP commercial and residential electric customers. The high temperature recorded on Aug. 4 was 116 degrees.
“SRP’s resource planning, operational readiness, and power generation teams ensure we have enough generating resources available to serve these increasingly high loads,” said Laura Olson, SRP Senior Manager of Short-Term Trading. “Our trading and operational teams are then well-positioned to maintain reliability, especially during times of extreme heat, calling upon a mix of energy, including solar, batteries, wind, natural gas and hydro power.”
SRP customers are benefiting from several new resources that came online in 2024 to help meet summer peak demand. These include the 250 MW Sierra Estrella and 90 MW Superstition four-hour energy storage facilities, the 200 MW Brittlebush Solar Park and 99 MW of natural gas generation at the Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center.
