UniSource Energy Services (UES) has more than doubled its renewable generating capacity with the expansion of a solar and wind project near Willcox, Ariz.The 37-megawatt (MW) Red Horse project expansion, completed this month, will produce enough electricity annually to power more than 7,500 homes. Red Horse now represents UES’ single largest renewable energy resource, boosting the total capacity of its owned or leased renewable energy systems to about 66 MW.
The Red Horse facility is owned and operated by Houston-based Torch Renewable Energy, which sells the output to UES. An earlier phase of the project has been generating wind and solar power since August 2015 for customers of Tucson Electric Power (TEP), UES’ sister company.The entire Red Horse project generates 101 megawatts of solar and wind energy for both UES and TEP, enough to power more than 21,000 homes. The expansion includes 100,000 new solar panels on about 200 acres that were designed for the exclusive use of UES.
“The Red Horse expansion was built from the ground up to provide our customers with the most solar energy for their money,” said Jeff Krauss, who oversees large-scale renewable projects for UES. “We’re committed to achieving our renewable energy goals through cost-effective investments that serve the best interests of all our customers.”
UES has about 21 MW of existing solar and wind facilities in Mohave County and a 7 MW solar array in Santa Cruz County. With the completion of the Red Horse expansion, approximately 12 percent of UES’ energy will come from renewable sources. The company’s expanding clean energy portfolio is designed to comply with Arizona’s Renewable Energy Standard, which calls on utilities to increase their use of renewable power each year until it accounts for 15 percent of their energy by 2025.
