New clean energy initiative brings jobs & savings to Arizona

The Biden Administration has announced more than $7.3 billion to build clean energy for rural communities across the country.

Sandy Bahr, Director of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss this new initiative.

This money will be used to finance rural electric cooperatives that will be used through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program. Communities in Arizona will also be receiving some of this money.

This move will create jobs, lower energy costs, reduce pollution and enhance the resiliency of the nation’s electric grid.

The Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (AEPCO) was selected to serve Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico. The selectees announced they will reduce 43.7 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, which is equivalent to removing more than 10 million cars off the road every year.

Bahr said it is really exciting to see this investment. AEPCO received funding for 730 megawatts solar, which is about a $480 million investment. They are also receiving just over 2,900 megawatt hours of battery storage and 70 megawatts of wind, according to Bahr.

“It’s a lot,” Bahr said. “They haven’t announced it, but what we’re hoping is it will mean that they will close the Apache Generating Station Coal Plant. That coal plant is one of the last coal plants in Arizona that does not have a retirement date, so it and Salt River Project’s (SRP) [Generating Station] don’t have retirement dates, so we’re hoping that will be part of it,” Bahr said. “They say it’s going to reduce their emissions by about a million tons per year, so that’s a significant amount.”

Bahr said AEPCO has the opportunity to be leaders in clean energy.