Designing Salt River Project’s route to electrification services

Beneficial electrification delivers benefits to utilities and customers alike: It grows energy sales, saves customers money, and improves load factor on the grid—all while reducing carbon emissions.

Challenge

In the planning to meet its 2035 Sustainability Goals—which include reducing its carbon footprint and meeting customer needs through a modern, resilient energy grid—SRP needed to understand the electrification opportunities in its service territory.

Solution

ICF conducted an analysis of SRP's service territory in 2016 to determine what customer technologies best aligned with the opportunity to support beneficial electrification. We helped SRP design and implement an innovative and flexible beneficial electrification program based on a study of their customer market.

The program allows SRP to add electrification technologies and load management solutions through a continuous improvement process. The first phase of this multi-year program was an electrotechnology program that focused on forklifts and other commercial equipment, which SRP launched in 2017. Subsequent phases have expanded the program to include fleet electrification services such as fleet electrification roadmaps and infrastructure support, EV charger rebates, demand response capable chargers, and custom electrification project incentives.

“We somewhat understood our market before engaging ICF, but they really helped us dig in deeper and connect with our customers to identify and implement electrification solutions in ways we hadn’t thought of.”

— Joseph W. deGraft-Johnson, MBA, Senior Product Manager, Salt River Project

Results

SRP’s electrification programs have grown significantly. Our analysis of decarbonization pathways showed SRP that it needed to layer additional technologies and programs on top of non-road transportation electrification to achieve its 2035 sustainability goals. From its launch with five projects in 2017, it now stands as one of the nation's largest electrification programs with more than 550 projects.

Phoenix, Arizona

The state capital took advantage of the SRP Business Solutions^TM Custom Electric Technology Equipment Rebate Program to add EV chargers to public spaces throughout the city: installing 22 EV chargers in five parks and one library, made possible by $154,000 in SRP rebates.

Sage Condominiums

A luxury condo in Scottsdale, Arizona, installed a total of 106 EV chargers within three underground parking garages, one for each condo unit. An SRP Business Solutions rebate of $150,000 helped defray the cost of the project while adding value to the property.