By Kelly Fisher | PinalCentral
After about two hours of discussion — interrupted by more than an hour’s recess — the Pinal County Board of Supervisors Wednesday approved what could be the first photovoltaic solar and battery-storage hybrid plant in the country.
But the project distressed many nearby residents and left some still discontent with the outcome.
NextEra Energy Resources, a Florida-based, Fortune 200 energy hub, set what’s now known as the Pinal Central Energy Center in motion in 2014, and the project gained traction last year.
As it’s planned currently, the Pinal Central Energy Center, a subsidiary of NextEra, is slated for construction on a 257-acre site at State Route 287 and Sunshine Boulevard, between Casa Grande and Coolidge, which is adjacent to an existing substation.