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SRP Plans Natural Gas Expansion To Meet Growing Demand — But Not All Arizonans On Board

Last month, Salt River Project announced a planned expansion of the Coolidge Generating Station, which currently generates enough energy to serve about 150,000 homes.

The expansion would cost nearly $900 million and add 16 more natural gas-powered turbines to provide energy to 200,000 additional households.

SRP officials say the expansion is necessary to accommodate power usage during peak hours — the heart of the Arizona summer. But the proposal is raising concerns among Arizonans who don’t believe natural gas expansion makes sense when they want to see increased use of renewable energy.

And a protest taking place Sept. 8 featured a number of speakers with that perspective — including a current member of SRP’s board.

To learn about SRP's plan and the opposition to it, The Show spoke with Ryan Randazzo of the Arizona Republic.

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Steve Goldstein was a host at KJZZ from 1997 to 2022.