The Salt River Project power plant near Randolph has been the subject of a request for expansion.|| Aaron Dorman/PinalCentral [2021]
By Taylor Griffith || PinalCentral
The lengthy, ongoing battle between the residents of Randolph and energy utility Salt River Project may be coming to a close after the Maricopa Superior Court delivered a decision on Friday.
“SRP has not shown that decision to be unlawful or unreasonable,” the court ruled.
Despite multiple appeals from the utility since July, the court has decided that the Arizona Corporation Commission acted lawfully and was within its rights to deny SRP a certificate of environmental compatibility to more than double the size of the Coolidge Generating Station, just 2 miles outside of the unincorporated community of Randolph.
SRP’s effort to obtain a CEC for the Coolidge Expansion Project, which was planned to add 16 natural gas turbines to the 12 at the plant, began with the ACC in late 2021, with claims it was needed in order to meet “the rapid growth of SRP’s service territory” while the utility seeks to expand its renewable energy portfolio in the coming years.
