What SRP’s Clean Energy Win Means for You?

Renewable energy advocates control the district board of Salt River Project, the third-largest public power utility in the US, following a high-turnout election in April.

SRP Clean Energy Team, a candidate slate backed by solar industry leaders, among others, won three at-large board positions and picked up two more division seats to claim a majority of the 14-member board. Newly elected board members at Salt River Project (SRP), which serves 1.1 million customers in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, began four-year terms in May.

At a time when the solar and energy storage industries are facing political headwinds at the federal level, the SRP election results are notable for two reasons.

First, they underscore strong support for affordable, clean energy. Voter turnout jumped more than 400 percent in a contest between renewable energy advocates and proponents of the status quo who were backed by Turning Point Action, a partisan political advocacy group. As a community-based, not-for-profit organization, SRP runs nonpartisan elections.

Second, the election results give SRP’s new board leadership an opening to show how affordable, clean energy can help transform electric utility service, improving utility governance and distributed generation rate design while better aligning resource decisions with economic and energy realities.

Clear Mandate for Clean Energy

 SRP Clean Energy Team campaigned on a message that board incumbents had been too quick to approve new fossil fuel generation, such as a repower project that will convert the Coronado Generating Station from coal to natural gas. The new board majority said its predecessors had overlooked clean energy solutions that could help modernize the grid. Meanwhile, they objected to a recent rate plan that increased costs for residential customers and solar customers but spared energy-hungry data centers.

The election results establish a clear mandate for practical clean energy solutions and long-term planning.

One challenge facing SRP is a pipeline of 31 data centers expected to come online over the next ten years. SRP forecasts that peak load, which is the highest demand for electricity at any given time, will increase by 5.9 gigawatts (GW), largely because of new data centers. That’s almost a 70 percent increase in peak demand for the district, a big operational challenge.

The question is: how will SRP procure enough electricity to meet fast-rising customer demand?

The message from voters was unambiguous. They want more clean energy projects that can be built faster and at a lower cost than fossil fuel projects.

“Voters showed up for candidates who are focused on affordability, reliability, and actually getting projects built, not pushing empty partisan talking points,” said Autumn Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association (AriSEIA).

Growth Potential for Arizona Solar

With a governing majority now in place, the SRP board is positioned to expand cost-effective solar and storage, support grid reliability, and better align resource decisions with Arizona’s economic and energy realities.

For context, Arizona ranks fourth among US states in total solar capacity installed, behind California, Texas, and Florida, according to data collected by the national Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

In 2025, however, Arizona trailed Indiana in new solar capacity added. Arizona also trails many neighboring states when it comes to the percentage of total electricity from solar.

Percentage of State’s Electricity from Solar

As one of the sunniest US states with strong private sector support, Arizona has huge growth potential. The election of a board majority favoring accelerated solar deployment and fair utility rates can contribute to solar market growth in Arizona, one reason many view the election result as a historic victory.

“Starting when we’re sworn in, SRP will be the largest utility in the country with a majority vote of clean energy supporters,” said Ken Clark, one of the newly elected members of the district board.

Expected Policy Priorities

SRP governance will be at or near the top of the agenda as the district board charts a new path for the utility. As currently constructed, the SRP board voting process favors large landowners over retail customers. The new board majority is likely to consider reforms that would create a more democratic voting system while increasing transparency over the board’s decision-making process.

Other policy priorities for the new board will likely include programs for distributed and utility-scale solar and energy storage, virtual power plants (VPPs), vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, grid modernization, and sustainability.

Look for the new SRP district board to make it quicker and easier to connect distributed energy resources to the grid while designing utility rates that give customers fair compensation for solar and energy storage output and grid services.

The utility-scale market can also benefit from interconnection reforms that reduce costs and remove barriers to deployment. Meanwhile, board policy can promote competition on a level playing field that invites more competition from clean energy projects and lowers costs for the consumer. Data centers, in particular, can be required to procure their own clean energy resources and conserve water to reduce negative impacts on existing customers.

Through Solar Gain’s leadership position on the AriSEIA board, we will be working closely with the new SRP board majority to make sure the new district board delivers on the promise of affordable, clean energy. Continue to follow our blog for notable SRP policy updates.