Significance of Pinal County
Northeast Pinal County is expected to be a major contributor to SRP's growth during the next 10 to 20 years. New generation located in the Pinal County area will provide important reliability benefits to SRP customers in northeastern Pinal County, Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Queen Creek, Johnson Ranch and a portion of Florence. (SRP serves all electric meters north of Arizona Farm Road).
In total, the area is about 360 square miles and currently is home to about 60,000 SRP electric customers. However, SRP anticipates that this area will grow significantly. In fact, estimates indicate that more than 400,000 new customers will be added in this area when it is fully built out.
It is important to locate new generation in or near the area of expected growth. In Pinal County, SRP has selected two sites for possible development of new generating stations. SRP is conducting a public process to obtain input on the sites.
Effect on property values
While it is not possible to accurately predict future property values, these studies suggest that the effect of power plant construction will be negligible:
- A study by a Tempe real estate appraisal firm determined that SRP's existing Santan Generating Station in Gilbert has had "no measurable impact on the value or marketability of homes" in the vicinity of the plant. Similarly, the study also concluded that the announcement of a plant expansion had no measurable impact on property values or marketability in the area.
- A study conducted in San Jose, Calif., found that the announcement of a new generating station had no significant impact on home prices or a home's time on the market.
Future plans
Development of generation will be dependent on load growth and resource acquisition. It also is possible that one of the existing plants will be expanded, although this is a limited option.